Recovery of aSasa tsuboiana population after mass flowering and death

The recovery process of aSasa tsuboiana population after a mass flowering and death in 1977 was investigated by 15 years of observation in the Hira Mountains, Kinki district, western Japan. Seed production was high (6600–13 800 seeds m⁻² inSasa plots and 3900 seeds m⁻² in a forest plot) but emergent seedling density was low (14–21 seedlings m⁻²), probably because of seed predation byMicrotus montebelli occurring between seed shedding and the next spring. The seedling density had decreased further by the next year and theS. tsuboiana population recovered from only a limited number of seedlings. In spite of such a low initial density, theS. tsuboiana population was able to regenerate successfully and attained the previous full stand height in 7–16 years.Miscantbus sinensis invaded and delayed the recovery ofS. tsuboiana in one plot, butS. tsuboiana became dominant as it caught up with the height ofM. sinensis. Seedling growth patterns, such as frequent tillering, the onset of rhizome extension in the early stage of seedling growth and frequent culm production from rhizomes, played important roles in the successful regeneration ofS. tsuboiana.     

Camellidins,Antifungal Saponins Isolated from Camellia japonica

Two triterpenoid saponins were isolated from an aqueous or a methanolic extract of camellia (Camellia japonica) leaf. They had an antifungal activity characterized by abnormal germination of conidia. These saponins were composed of 3βhydroxy-18β-acetoxy-28-norolean-12-en-16-one or 3β, 8β-dihydroxy-28-norolean-12-en-16-one as aglycon, and d-glucuronic acid, dglucose and two moles of dgalactose as the sugar moiety. The authors have named these new saponins “Camellidin,” which might have value for studies in the fields of phytopathology and biochemistry.     

Hydroxylation of para-chlorotoluene by model complexes of cytochrome P-450

Hydroxylation of p-chlorotoluene with heminthiol complexes, Fenton's system and Udenfriend's system was studied and the complexes assessed as models of cytochrome P-450 monooxygenases. Five species of possible hydroxylation products of p-chlorotoluene, namely, p-chlorobenzyl alcohol, 2-chloro-5-methylphenol, p-chlorobenzaldehyde, 4-chloro-2-methylphenol and 5-chloro-2-methylphenol, were studied using high performance liquid chromatography. The oxidation reactions were characterized by the yields of hydroxylation products and the product ratio. The system consisting of hemin and cysteine ethyl ester as well as Udenfriend's system gave relatively high hydroxylation yields and the former only induced a methyl migration during hydroxylation (methyl NIH shift). However, neither Fenton's nor Udenfriend's systems induced a methyl NIH shift. The hemin-thiol complex is thus concluded to be a good chemical model of cytochrome P-450 monooxygenases.     

The Bright Side and Dark Side of Workplace Social Capital: Opposing Effects of Gender on Overweight among Japanese Employees

Background

A growing number of studies have sought to examine the health associations of workplace social capital; however, evidence of associations with overweight is sparse. We examined the association between individual perceptions of workplace social capital and overweight among Japanese male and female employees.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We conducted a cross-sectional survey among full-time employees at a company in Osaka prefecture in February 2012. We used an 8-item measure to assess overall and sub-dimensions of workplace social capital, divided into tertiles. Of 1050 employees, 849 responded, and 750 (624 men and 126 women) could be linked to annual health check-up data in the analysis. Binomial logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for overweight (body mass index: ≥25 kg/m², calculated from measured weight and height) separately for men and women. The prevalence of overweight was 24.5% among men and 14.3% among women. Among men, low levels of bonding and linking social capital in the workplace were associated with a nearly 2-fold risk of overweight compared to high corresponding dimensions of social capital when adjusted for age, sleep hours, physiological distress, and lifestyle. In contrast, among women we found lower overall and linking social capital to be associated with lower odds for overweight even after covariate adjustment. Subsequently, we used multinomial logistic regression analyses to assess the relationships between a 1 standard deviation (SD) decrease in mean social capital and odds of underweight/overweight relative to normal weight. Among men, a 1-SD decrease in overall, bonding, and linking social capital was significantly associated with higher odds of overweight, but not with underweight. Among women, no significant associations were found for either overweight or underweight.

Conclusions/Significance

We found opposite gender relationships between perceived low linking workplace social capital and overweight among Japanese employees.     

Epr Spectroscopic Studies of Detection of a Carbon-Centered Free Radical During Acetylcholine-Induced and Endothelium-Dependent Relaxation of Guinea Pig Pulmonary Artery

Vascular smooth muscle relaxation by several vasodilators, including acetylcholine (Ach) and ATP, depends on the presence of intact endothelium. Ach is thought to activate muscarinic receptors on endothelium to release an endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) which brings about relaxation of smooth muscle. In order to assess the role of free radicals in the endothelium-dependent relaxation of blood vessel, we have studied the effect of a spin-trapping agent, phenyl t-butyl nitrone (PBN). on Ach-, ATP-, and sodium nitroprusside-induced relaxation of guinea pig pulmonary artery. Arterial strips were mounted in a 5-ml organ bath containing Krebs solution equilibrated with 95% O₂ and 5% CO₂ at 37°C. After increasing vascular tone by a synthetic prostaglandin endoperoxide analog (50 ng/ml), the strips relaxed dose-dependently in response to Ach (5 × 10^-8M), ATP (1.5 × 10^-6M) or sodium nitroprusside (6 × 10^-9 M). Removal of the endothelium abolished the relaxation by Ach or ATP, but did not affect the relaxation by sodium nitroprusside. PBN inhibited Ach-induced relaxation of pulmonary artery dose-dependently, but had no effect on relaxations by ATP or sodium nitroprusside. PBN did not block radioligand binding to muscarinic cholinergic membrane receptors on both chick embryonic heart and guinea pig pulmonary artery endothelial cells indicating that it does not block the muscarinic receptors. Spin trapping in combination with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectral analysis revealed a carbon-centered radical with hyperfine splitting constants of a_N = 16.0 G and a_β^H: = 3.85 G in the lipid extracts of pulmonary artery (0.2-0.4g) incubated with PBN (14mM) and Ach (3 × 10^-6M) for 20min. No signal was detected when endothelium was removed. Our data suggest that the endothelium-dependent relaxation of pulmonary artery by Ach is associated with the generation of a free-radical and can be prevented by a spin-trapping agent. ATP, however, relaxes the arterial smooth muscle by a different mechanism.     

Protein threading with profiles and distance constraints using clique based algorithms

With the advent of experimental technologies like chemical cross-linking, it has become possible to obtain distances between specific residues of a newly sequenced protein. These types of experiments usually are less time consuming than X-ray crystallography or NMR. Consequently, it is highly desired to develop a method that incorporates this distance information to improve the performance of protein threading methods. However, protein threading with profiles in which constraints on distances between residues are given is known to be NP-hard. By using the notion of a maximum edge-weight clique finding algorithm, we introduce a more efficient method called FTHREAD for profile threading with distance constraints that is 18 times faster than its predecessor CLIQUETHREAD. Moreover, we also present a novel practical algorithm NTHREAD for profile threading with Non-strict constraints. The overall performance of FTHREAD on a data set shows that although our algorithm uses a simple threading function, our algorithm performs equally well as some of the existing methods. Particularly, when there are some unsatisfied constraints, NTHREAD (Non-strict constraints threading algorithm) performs better than threading with FTHREAD (Strict constraints threading algorithm). We have also analyzed the effects of using a number of distance constraints. This algorithm helps the enhancement of alignment quality between the query sequence and template structure, once the corresponding template structure is determined for the target sequence.     

Dextran sulphate enhancement of lipopolysaccharide-induced tumour necrosis factor-α production by murine peritoneal macrophages: Correlation with macrophage blockade

Abstract Proteose peptone-induced murine peritoneal macrophages (Mø) were preincubated with 100–800 μg/ml of dextran sulphate (DS) 500 ( M _r 500 000) or DS1000 ( M _r 1 000 000). After 2–24 h of the preincubation, the Mø were stimulated with 1 μg/ml of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro for 18 h in DS-free culture medium. The culture supernatants were then collected for TNF assay. The LPS-induced TNF activity of Mø supernatant preincubated with DS500 or DS1000 for 6 h was enhanced by up to about ten-fold compared with those preincubated without DS. This enhancing effect was not observed when Mø were preincubated with 100–800 μg/ml of low molecular weight DS5 ( M _r 5000) or neutral dextran (Dex) 500 ( M _r 500 000). The enhancement of LPS-induced TNF-α production from Mø was observed after 2 or 4 h of incubation with DS1000 or DS500, respectively. The phagocytic activity of Mø was determined in vitro by the ingestion index and phagocytic capacity using Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Treatment with DS500 or DS1000 significantly suppressed the phagocytic activity from 2 h after the incubation, but this suppression was not observed in Mø incubated with DS5 or Dex500. Our experiments indicate that DS500 and DS1000 act directly on Mø and enhance LPS-induced TNF-α production from Mø, and that the enhancement is closely related to the suppression of Mø phagocytic function.     

Community-Level Social Capital and Psychological Distress among the Elderly in Japan: A Population-Based Study

Despite accumulating evidence, previous studies have not clearly separated the contribution of community-level social capital on mental health from that of individual-level social support. We examined the association between community-level social capital and psychological distress in a sample of older Japanese individuals, taking into account the effects of individual-level social capital and social support. We collected data via a cross-sectional survey among all residents aged ≥65 in three rural municipalities in Okayama Prefecture. We measured two components of social capital in the questionnaire: perceptions of trust and reciprocity in the community. Community-level social capital was obtained by aggregating individual responses and calculating the proportion of subjects reporting mistrust and lack of reciprocity. Psychological distress was assessed by the Kessler Psychological Distress scale. We calculated risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for psychological distress using two-level Poisson regression models (9,761 individuals nested within 35 communities). The prevalence of psychological distress was 39.8%. Low community-level social capital was associated with psychological distress, even after controlling for individual-level social support, age, sex, educational attainment, frequency of alcohol consumption, smoking status, body mass index, marital status, socioeconomic status, and number of cohabiters. The adjusted RRs per 10% increase of the proportion of mistrust and lack of reciprocity in the communities were 1.23 (95% CI: 1.01–1.51) and 1.12 (95% CI: 1.02–1.24), respectively. Lower levels of community-level social capital are associated with psychological distress among the Japanese elderly population, even after adjusting for individual-level perceptions of social capital and social support.