CPC-ETC1 chimeric protein localization data in Arabidopsis root epidermis

Intercellular movement of transcription factor proteins is essential for plant development. The R3 type MYB transcription factor protein, CAPRICE (CPC), moves from non-hair cells to root-hair cells where it promotes root hair formation in Arabidopsis root epidermis. In contrast, the CPC homolog of ENHANCER OF TRY AND CPC1 (ETC1) cannot move in root epidermal cells. In this work, we present protein localization data of CPC-ETC1 chimeric proteins. Localization of CPC-ETC1-GFP fusion proteins of chimera1 and chimera2 transgenic plants was observed using confocal laser scanning microscope. Insertion of ETC1-specific amino acids into CPC somewhat prevents normal protein localization of CPC in root epidermal cells. Cell-to-cell movement of chimera1 and chimera2 proteins from non-hair cells to root-hair cells was interfered. Nuclear localization was also inhibited, especially in chimera1.

A Qualitative and Quantitative Correlation Study of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Using Glycosaminoglycan Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, Pfirrmann Grade, and T1-ρ

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Glycosaminoglycan chemical exchange saturation transfer (gagCEST) imaging allows the direct measurement and mapping of glycosaminoglycans. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of gagCEST imaging in the quantitative assessment of intervertebral disc degeneration in a comparison with Pfirrmann grade and T1-ρ measurements.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ninety-six lumbar intervertebral discs in 24 volunteers (36.0 ± 8.5 years of age, 21 men and 3 women) were examined with both gagCEST imaging and T1-ρ measurements. The gagCEST imaging was performed at 3T with a saturation pulse with 1.0-second duration and the B₁ amplitude of 0.8 μT followed by imaging by a 2D fast spin-echo sequence. The Z-spectra were obtained at 25 frequency offsets from -3 to +3 ppm (step, 0.25 ppm). A point-by-point B₀ correction was performed with a B₀ map. The gagCEST signal and T1-ρ values were measured in the nucleus pulposus in each intervertebral disc. The Pfirrmann grades were assessed on T2-weighted images.

RESULTS

The gagCEST signal at grade I (5.36% ± 2.79%) was significantly higher than those at Pfirrmann grade II (3.15% ± 1.40%, P = .0006), grade III (0.14% ± 1.03%, P < .0001), grade IV (-1.75% ± 2.82%, P < .0001), and grade V (-1.47% ± 0.36%, P < .0001). The gagCEST signal at grade II was significantly higher than those of grade III (P < .0001), grade IV (P < .0001), and grade V (P < .0001). The gagCEST signal was significantly correlated negatively with Pfirrmann grade (P < .0001) and positively correlated with T1-ρ (P < .0001).

CONCLUSIONS

GagCEST imaging could be a reliable and quantitative technique for assessing intervertebral disc degeneration.

Biomechanical Diagnosis of Atherosclerosis by Ultrasound

Setting: Atherosclerosis causes structural changes in artery walls that alter their physical properties. The stiffness parameteris one quantitative index of the elastic properties of large arteries.can be calculated from the measurements of blood pressure and arterial diameter. We examined whether quantitatively evaluates common carotid atherosclerosis. Methods: We measured the common carotid artery inner diameter and its pulsatile change with an ultrasonic instrument. The subjects were healthy persons, patients with atherosclesrosis risk factors, patients with myocardial infarctions, and patients with cerebral infarction. Results: Thein healthy persons aged 40-59 years was 11.2. β was 13.2 in patients with atherosclerosis risk factors, 13.4 in patients with myocardial infarction, and 13.5 in patients with cerebral infarctions. These data in each patient group were significantly higher than those in healthy subjects. Conclusions: This diagnostic method is inexpensive, noninvasive and easily performed.shows promise as a useful diagnostic indicator of atherosclerosis.

Effective Prevention of Carotid Artery Atherosclerosis by Following this Motto for Healthy Habits: “Give Up One, Reduce Two, and Increase Three”

Objectives: Lifestyle has a major influence on the development and progression of atherosclerosis. Our motto for healthy habits is “give up one, reduce two, and increase three”. The one thing that is to be given up is smoking. The two things that are to be reduced are intake of food and alcohol. The three things that are to be increased are exercise, rest and enjoyable activities. We assessed correlation between these six-health habits and plaque score indicating degree of atherosclerosis in the carotid artery.

Methods: Subjects were divided into unfavorable (practicing zero to three habits) and optimal (practicing four to six habits) healthy habits groups.

Results: Plaque score was significantly higher in the unfavorable group (7.6 ± 5.8) than in the optimal group (4.9 ± 4.2) (P<0.001).

Conclusions: The healthy habits that significantly contributed to prevention of atherosclerosis were quitting smoking and increasing rest and enjoyable activities.

Effect of phosphate deficiency-induced anthocyanin accumulation on the expression of Solanum lycopersicum GLABRA3 (SlGL3) in tomato

In Arabidopsis thaliana, the bHLH transcription factor, GLABRA3 (AtGL3), is an important regulator of epidermal cell differentiation and positively controls anthocyanin accumulation. In contrast, we previously showed that Solanum lycopersicum GLABRA3 (SlGL3), the AtGL3 homolog, suppressed anthocyanin accumulation in Arabidopsis. To clarify this functional discrepancy in anthocyanin accumulation, we analyzed the SlGL3 expression pattern in anthocyanin-induced tomato. The SlGL3 expression was significantly reduced in tomato seedlings rich in anthocyanin as a result of inorganic phosphate (Pi) starvation. This was consistent with the previous result obtained in Arabidopsis, wherein the overexpression of SlGL3 was shown to inhibit anthocyanin accumulation. Our study suggests that the function of SlGL3 is different from that of AtGL3, and it might inhibit anthocyanin accumulation in tomato.

CDK5 Regulatory Subunit-Associated Protein 1-like 1 Negatively Regulates Adipocyte Differentiation through Activation of Wnt Signaling Pathway

CDK5 Regulatory Subunit-Associated Protein 1-like 1 (CDKAL1) was identified as a susceptibility gene for type 2 diabetes and body mass index in genome-wide association studies. Although it was reported that CDKAL1 is a methylthiotransferase essential for tRNA^Lys(UUU) and faithful translation of proinsulin generated in pancreatic β cells, the role of CDKAL1 in adipocytes has not been understood well. In this study, we found that CDKAL1 is expressed in adipose tissue and its expression is increased during differentiation. Stable overexpression of CDKAL1, however, inhibited adipocyte differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells, whereas knockdown of CDKAL1 promoted differentiation. CDKAL1 increased protein levels of β-catenin and its active unphosphorylated form in the nucleus, thereby promoting Wnt target gene expression, suggesting that CDKAL1 activated the Wnt/β-catenin pathway—a well-characterized inhibitory regulator of adipocyte differentiation. Mutant experiments show that conserved cysteine residues of Fe-S clusters of CDKAL1 are essential for its anti-adipogenic action. Our results identify CDKAL1 as novel negative regulator of adipocyte differentiation and provide insights into the link between CDKAL1 and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Lower risk of progression from prediabetes to diabetes with health checkup with lifestyle education: Japan Ningen Dock study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

To investigate whether the progression from prediabetes to diabetes is lower among those who undertake Ningen Dock (comprehensive health checkups with lifestyle education and doctor's consultation) than those who undertake basic mandatory occupational health checkups.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Subjects aged 30-69 years with complete annual data from 2008 to 2012 for either Ningen Dock or basic health checkups were enrolled. Subjects with prediabetes (fasting plasma glucose 100-125 mg/dl or HbA1c 5.7-6.4%) at baseline were selected (14,928 in the comprehensive group and 10,433 in the basic group). The incidence of diabetes (fasting plasma glucose ≥ 126 mg/dl, HbA1c ≥ 6.5% or taking glucose-lowering drugs) and the reduction of risk factors were compared. After 4 years, 3226 cases of diabetes occurred among 25,361 subjects with prediabetes. The incidence of diabetes was lower in the comprehensive group than the basic group (2.9 vs. 3.8 cases/100 person-years, hazard ratio 0.75, 95% confidence interval 0.68-0.81 after adjustment). Moreover, more overweight subjects controlled their body mass index (16.2% vs. 13.2%) and more began a daily exercise habit (11.8% vs. 8.5%) in the comprehensive group than in the basic group. The incidence of diabetes was lower in subjects who could control their weight or start daily exercise at year 1 in the comprehensive group.

CONCLUSION

Progression from prediabetes to diabetes was significantly lower in subjects undertaking a comprehensive health checkup with lifestyle education. Lifestyle education at health checkup for people with prediabetes might prevent progression to diabetes by reducing modifiable risk factors.

Hard x-ray photoemission study of Yb1-x Zr x B12: the effects of electron doping on the Kondo insulator YbB12

We have carried out hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) of Yb_1-x Zr _x B₁₂ ([Formula: see text]) to study the effects of electron doping on the Kondo insulator YbB₁₂. The Yb valences of Yb_1-x Zr _x B₁₂ at 300 K estimated from the Yb 3d HAXPES spectra decreased after substituting Yb with Zr from 2.93 for YbB₁₂ to 2.83 for Yb_0.125Zr_0.875B₁₂. A temperature dependent valence decrease was found upon cooling for all doping concentrations. We found peak shifts of the B 1s and Zr 3d_5/2, and Yb³⁺ 4f spectra toward the deeper binding-energy with increasing Zr concentration, which indicates a shift of the Fermi level to the higher energy and that of the Yb 4f hole level close to the Fermi level, respectively, due to electron doping. These results qualitatively show the enhanced hybridization between the Yb 4f and conduction-band states with Zr substitution, consistent with magnetic susceptibility measurements.

Composition law of κ-entropy for statistically independent systems

The intriguing and still open question concerning the composition law of κ-entropy S_{κ}(f)=1/2κ∑_{i}(f_{i}^{1-κ}-f_{i}^{1+κ}) with 0<κ<1 and ∑_{i}f_{i}=1 is here reconsidered and solved. It is shown that, for a statistical system described by the probability distribution f={f_{ij}}, made up of two statistically independent subsystems, described through the probability distributions p={p_{i}} and q={q_{j}}, respectively, with f_{ij}=p_{i}q_{j}, the joint entropy S_{κ}(pq) can be obtained starting from the S_{κ}(p) and S_{κ}(q) entropies, and additionally from the entropic functionals S_{κ}(p/e_{κ}) and S_{κ}(q/e_{κ}),e_{κ} being the κ-Napier number. The composition law of the κ-entropy is given in closed form and emerges as a one-parameter generalization of the ordinary additivity law of Boltzmann-Shannon entropy recovered in the κ→0 limit.

A control method for transfemoral prosthetic knees in level walking and stair ascending based on thigh angular motion

Regaining the locomotive ability is necessary to maintain the activities of daily living in lower extremity amputees. Recently, the stability of the gait and multifunctionality of transfemoral prosthetic knees have drastically improved with the use of microprocessor-controlled knees, such as Genium ® (Otto Bock, GmbH). However, these knees, which also include products from other companies, are very expensive. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to develop a control method for transfemoral prosthetic knees in order to perform level walking and stairs ascending safely, with fewer sensors or simpler procedures. First, we analyzed the gait of an intact subject and therefore we proposed a control algorithm for prosthetic knees with only thigh angular kinematics. Then, an evaluation experiment on the prototype knee, in which the proposed algorithm was implemented, was conducted. As a result, the participant successfully performed level walking, stairs ascending and transition between the two types of gait. The functions of the prosthetic knee changed automatically using the proposed algorithm with thigh angular kinematics. Then, the reliability of the algorithm was checked with a database of gait analyses. The results showed that the algorithm was applicable to 99.8 % of the population.

Development and inter-laboratory study of a method for quantifying ochratoxin A in pet foods

An analytical method for quantifying ochratoxin A (OTA) in pet foods using high-performance liquid chromatography was developed, and an inter-laboratory study was conducted. OTA was extracted from samples with aqueous acetonitrile. The extract was purified by an immunoaffinity column, OCHRAKING, and analysed by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The limits of quantification by this method were 2 µg/kg for dry and semidry pet food and 1 µg/kg for wet type pet food. The calibration curve showed linearity in the range of 0.5-50 ng/ml (equivalent to 1-100 µg/kg for wet type pet food). The mean recoveries of OTA spiked at 1-5 µg/kg were in the range of 83.0-106% and relative standard deviations of the in-house method validation were 2.6-6.8%. The mean recoveries, repeatability, reproducibility and the Horwitz ratios for OTA from the inter-laboratory validation study were 75.6-83.1%, 3.5-6.1%, 5.0-15.0% and 0.23-0.68, respectively.