Effects of fatty acid hydroperoxides produced by lipoxygenase in wheat cultivars during dough preparation on volatile compound formation.

The formation of volatile compounds affects the flavor of processed wheat flour products. Herein, the effects of the composition of fatty acid hydroperoxides and the differences in the antioxidant contents among wheat cultivars on the flavor of wheat flour products were clarified. For this purpose, the volatile compounds in wheat flour doughs, LOX activity, fatty acid hydroperoxide composition from fractionated LOX, and antioxidant content were analyzed.

Excess heat production of the pair annihilation of ionic vacancies in a copper redox reaction using a double bipolar MHD electrode.

Through a copper double bipolar magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) electrode (MHDE) producing twice the amounts of ionic vacancies than a conventional single MHDE, the molar excess heat of the pair annihilation of ionic vacancies, 702 kJ mol at 10 T on average was obtained in a copper redox reaction. It was about twice as large as that of a single MHDE, 387 kJ mol at the same magnetic field. This result strongly suggests that a multi-channel bipolar MHDE will produce much greater excess heat.

Sex Differences in Intestinal Microbiota and Their Association with Some Diseases in a Japanese Population Observed by Analysis Using a Large Dataset.

In recent years, many studies have focused on the relationship between intestinal microbiota and human health, but the impact of sex has not yet been sufficiently investigated. In this study, sex differences in the intestinal microbiota of a Japanese population were investigated by age group, using a large dataset constructed for a cross-sectional study. α-diversity analysis indicated that the impact of sex differences varied among the 20s-50s age groups but tended to be smaller among the 60s-70s age groups.

Rapid detection of total bacteria in foods using a poly--lysine-based lateral-flow assay.

Food safety and freshness are evaluated according to microbiological load. To analyze this load rapidly, a poly--lysine-based lateral-flow assay (PLFA) was developed. A total of 90 strains of bacteria that are often detected in spoiled foods, including Enterobacteriaceae, lactic acid bacteria, Pseudomonas, and Bacillus were detected using the PLFA.

Long-Term Electrodeposition under a Uniform Parallel Magnetic Field. 1. Instability of Two-Dimensional Nucleation in an Electric Double Layer.

Under a parallel magnetic field, after long-term copper deposition from an acidic copper sulfate solution, numerous spherical secondary nodules of 10 to 100 μm diameters were formed one upon another in dendritic mode. This is a new type of micro-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effect arising from the unstable growth of three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) nuclei by specific adsorption of hydrogen ions (second micro-MHD effect). From the viewpoint of instability in electrodeposition, though 3D nucleation in the diffusion layer is always unstable, with ionic specific adsorption such as hydrogen ions, stable 2D nucleation turns unstable after long-term deposition.

Excess heat production in the redox couple reaction of ferricyanide and ferrocyanide.

In order to establish the universality of the excess heat production in electrochemical reaction, under a high magnetic field, as one of the most fundamental electrochemical reactions, the case of ferricyanide-ferrocyanide redox reaction was examined, where ionic vacancies with ± 1 unit charge were collided by means of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow. As a result, from the pair annihilation of the vacancies with opposite signs, beyond 7 T, excess heat production up to 25 kJ·mol in average at 15 T was observed, which was attributed to the liberation of the solvation energy stored in a pair of the vacancy cores with a 0.32 nm radius, i.

Excess Heat Production by the Pair Annihilation of Ionic Vacancies in Copper Redox Reactions.

In the pair annihilation of ionic vacancies with opposite charges, a drastic excess heat production up to 410 kJ mol in average at 10 T (i. e., 1.

Rapid detection of coliform bacteria using a lateral flow test strip assay.

Coliform bacteria in foods are enumerated at food processing plants and are used as sanitary and quality indicators. To detect coliform bacteria rapidly, seven Lateral Flow Test Strips (LFTSs) that can detect the genera Aeromonas, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Hafnia, Klebsiella/Raoultella, Pantoea and Serratia were developed. For 55 tested food isolates, the detection rate of each individual LFTS assay was only 38% to 76%, but the detection rate of the 7 combined assays was 100%.

Rapid detection of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Raoultella ornithinolytica and other related bacteria in food by lateral-flow test strip immunoassays.

Bacteria of the genera Klebsiella and Raoultella, which are present in foods and the natural environment, are associated with health hazards in humans. In the present study, two types of strips-based methods were developed to detect these bacteria simply and quickly. One method used lateral-flow test strips (LFTS) in combination with anti-Klebsiella antibodies labeled with palladium nanoparticles that bind to target bacteria, allowing their visualization.

A preliminary study of the measurement of overload applied to the foot support of a wheelchair and a seated postural support device.

[Purpose] The mechanical strength of wheelchair and seating products is specified by standards to ensure user safety. However, some individual users are affected by severe spasticity resulting from cerebral palsy that occasionally breaks such devices. Until recently, reports of quantitative measurement of these mechanical overloads have been scarce, and the exact loads applied have been unknown.

A High Performance Platform Based on cDNA Display for Efficient Synthesis of Protein Fusions and Accelerated Directed Evolution.

We describe a high performance platform based on cDNA display technology by developing a new modified puromycin linker-oligonucleotide. The linker consists of four major characteristics: a "ligation site" for hybridization and ligation of mRNA by T4 RNA ligase, a "puromycin arm" for covalent linkage of the protein, a "polyadenosine site" for a longer puromycin arm and purification of protein fusions (optional) using oligo-dT matrices, and a "reverse transcription site" for the formation of stable cDNA protein fusions whose cDNA is covalently linked to its encoded protein. The linker was synthesized by a novel branching strategy and provided >8-fold higher yield than previous linkers.

Vanadium Pentoxide-Based Composite Synthesized Using Microwave Water Plasma for Cathode Material in Rechargeable Magnesium Batteries.

Multivalent cation rechargeable batteries are expected to perform well as high-capacity storage devices. Rechargeable magnesium batteries have an advantage in terms of resource utilization and safety. Here, we report on sulfur-doped vanadium pentoxide (S-V₂O₅) as a potential material for the cathodes of such a battery; S-V₂O₅ showed a specific capacity of 300 mAh·g.

Peptide-Modulated Activity Enhancement of Acidic Protease Cathepsin E at Neutral pH.

Enzymes are regulated by their activation and inhibition. Enzyme activators can often be effective tools for scientific and medical purposes, although they are more difficult to obtain than inhibitors. Here, using the paired peptide method, we report on protease-cathepsin-E-activating peptides that are obtained at neutral pH.

Proven in vitro evolution of protease cathepsin E-inhibitors and -activators at pH 4.5 using a paired peptide method.

Improving a particular function of molecules is often more difficult than identifying such molecules ab initio. Here, a method to acquire higher affinity and/or more functional peptides was developed as a progressive library selection method. The primary library selection products were utilized to build a secondary library composed of blocks of 4 amino acids, of which selection led to peptides with increased activity.

Display of disulfide-rich proteins by complementary DNA display and disulfide shuffling assisted by protein disulfide isomerase.

We report an efficient system to produce and display properly folded disulfide-rich proteins facilitated by coupled complementary DNA (cDNA) display and protein disulfide isomerase-assisted folding. The results show that a neurotoxin protein containing four disulfide linkages can be displayed in the folded state. Furthermore, it can be refolded on a solid support that binds efficiently to its natural acetylcholine receptor.

Oceanobacillus soja sp. nov. isolated from soy sauce production equipment in Japan.

A Gram-positive, spore-forming, motile rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain Y27T, was isolated from the bottom of a mold fermenter used in the process of soy sauce production. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence from this strain placed it within the genus Oceanobacillus, and further sequence analysis revealed that this strain has a sequence similarity of 95.0-98.

Sporosarcina luteola sp. nov. isolated from soy sauce production equipment in Japan.

A Gram-variable, spore-forming, motile rod, designated strain Y1T, was isolated from the hopper surface of equipment used for soy sauce production. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that Y1T is affiliated phylogenetically to the genus Sporosarcina, and the strain showed sequence similarities of 95.8-99.

cDNA display: a novel screening method for functional disulfide-rich peptides by solid-phase synthesis and stabilization of mRNA-protein fusions.

We report a robust display technology for the screening of disulfide-rich peptides, based on cDNA-protein fusions, by developing a novel and versatile puromycin-linker DNA. This linker comprises four major portions: a 'ligation site' for T4 RNA ligase, a 'biotin site' for solid-phase handling, a 'reverse transcription primer site' for the efficient and rapid conversion from an unstable mRNA-protein fusion (mRNA display) to a stable mRNA/cDNA-protein fusion (cDNA display) whose cDNA is covalently linked to its encoded protein and a 'restriction enzyme site' for the release of a complex from the solid support. This enables not only stabilizing mRNA-protein fusions but also promoting both protein folding and disulfide shuffling reactions.

Development of systemic in vitro evolution and its application to generation of peptide-aptamer-based inhibitors of cathepsin E.

Proteases are involved in various biological functions. Thus, inhibition of their activities is scientifically interesting and medically important. However, there is no systematic method established to date to generate endopeptidase inhibitory peptides.

Tracing the contamination origin of coliform bacteria in two small food-processing factories.

The objective of this study was to trace contamination sources of coliform bacteria by comparing the types of coliforms between food samples and the processing environments in two small food-processing factories (factories A and B). Fermentation tests of five sugars enabled the successful classification of 16 representative type strains into eight distinct groups. The grouping procedure was then applied to comparison of the coliform flora between food products and various locations in their processing environments.

Rapid determination of multi-locus sequence types of Listeria monocytogenes by microtemperature-gradient gel electrophoresis.

This report presents a new method for identifying multi-locus sequence types of Listeria monocytogenes by microtemperature-gradient gel electrophoresis (mu-TGGE). Genomic comparison of L. monocytogenes serovar 1/2a strains EGD-e and F6854 allowed selection of novel polymorphic sequences lmo0386 and lmo0428 as optimum regions for mu-TGGE analysis, in addition to the previously identified lmo0297 gene.

Development of innovative pediocin PA-1 by DNA shuffling among class IIa bacteriocins.

Pediocin PA-1 is a member of the class IIa bacteriocins, which show antimicrobial effects against lactic acid bacteria. To develop an improved version of pediocin PA-1, reciprocal chimeras between pediocin PA-1 and enterocin A, another class IIa bacteriocin, were constructed. Chimera EP, which consisted of the C-terminal half of pediocin PA-1 fused to the N-terminal half of enterocin A, showed increased activity against a strain of Leuconostoc lactis isolated from a sour-spoiled dairy product.

Rapid discrimination of Listeria monocytogenes strains by microtemperature gradient gel electrophoresis.

Microtemperature gradient gel electrophoresis (mu-TGGE) was examined for use for the rapid subtyping of Listeria monocytogenes strains. Comparison of genomes between L. monocytogenes strains F2365 and H7858 identified a sequence encoding a portion of the PRT/PTS system IIA 2 protein domain as appropriate for mu-TGGE analysis.

Determination of essential and variable residues in pediocin PA-1 by NNK scanning.

Pediocin PA-1 is an antimicrobial peptide (called bacteriocin) that shows inhibitory activity against the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. To elucidate which residue(s) is responsible for this function, the antimicrobial activities of pediocin PA-1 mutants were evaluated and compared. Each of the 44 native codons was replaced with the NNK triplet oligonucleotide in a technique termed NNK scanning, and 35 mutations at each position were examined for antimicrobial activities using a modified colony overlay screening method.