Abscisic acid from Pinus densiflora pollen

(+)-Abscisic acid was isolated as the methyl ester from Pinus densiflora pollen and identified spectroscopically.     

Novel p-coumaric acid esters from Pinus densiflora pollen

Solvent-extractable lipids in Pinus densiflora pollen were investigated. The cis- and trans-isomers of 1,16-dioxo-, 1-hydroxy-16-oxo- and 1, 16-dihydroxyhexadecan-7-yl p-coumarates were identified.     

Antibiotic effect of amoxicillin on the feces composting process and reactivation of bacteria by intermittent feeding of feces

The aim of this work was to investigate the single exposure effect of amoxicillin on the feces composting process and the possibility of its bacterial reactivation by intermittent feeding of feces. The respiratory activity of the bacteria during the process after receiving exposure to several dosages of amoxicillin indicated a decrement of treatment performance, which was caused by the reduction of the initial viable bacterial count and activity brought about by the amoxicillin dosage. The amount of remaining feces was proportional to the initial concentration of amoxicillin, and even though no amoxicillin was detected, no automatic reactivation was observed, either. An intermittent feces feeding test was conducted to reactivate the bacteria. For the 10 and 100microg-amoxicillin/g dry systems, reactivation was observed, but for the 1000microg/g dry, no reactivation was seen. Finally, an intermittent feces feeding test was conducted with sterilized sawdust and the result indicated that the feces acted as a substrate rather than as a bacterial carrier.     

Intracellular accumulation of trehalose and glycogen in an extreme oligotroph,Rhodococcus erythropolis N9T-4

An extreme oligotroph, Rhodococcus erythropolis N9T-4, showed intracellular accumulation of trehalose and glycogen under oligotrophic conditions. No trehalose accumulation was observed in cells grown on the rich medium. Deletion of the polyphosphate kinase genes enhanced the trehalose accumulation and decreases the intracellular glycogen contents, suggesting an oligotrophic relationship between among the metabolic pathways of trehalose, glycogen, and inorganic polyphosphate biosyntheses.     

Genomic analysis of parallel-evolved cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 under acid stress

Photosynthesis Research - Experimental evolution is a powerful tool for clarifying phenotypic and genotypic changes responsible for adaptive evolution. In this study, we isolated acid-adapted...     

DPEP1 inhibits tumor cell invasiveness, enhances chemosensitivity and predicts clinical outcome in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide. To identify biologically relevant genes with prognostic and therapeutic significance in PDAC, we first performed the microarray gene-expression profiling in 45 matching pairs of tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues from resected PDAC cases. We identified 36 genes that were associated with patient outcome and also differentially expressed in tumors as compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues in microarray analysis. Further evaluation in an independent validation cohort (N = 27) confirmed that DPEP1 (dipeptidase 1) expression was decreased (T: N ratio ∼0.1, P<0.01) in tumors as compared with non-tumor tissues. DPEP1 gene expression was negatively correlated with histological grade (Spearman correlation coefficient = −0.35, P = 0.004). Lower expression of DPEP1 in tumors was associated with poor survival (Kaplan Meier log rank) in both test cohort (P = 0.035) and validation cohort (P = 0.016). DPEP1 expression was independently associated with cancer-specific mortality when adjusted for tumor stage and resection margin status in both univariate (hazard ratio = 0.43, 95%CI = 0.24–0.76, P = 0.004) and multivariate analyses (hazard ratio = 0.51, 95%CI = 0.27–0.94, P = 0.032). We further demonstrated that overexpression of DPEP1 suppressed tumor cells invasiveness and increased sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agent Gemcitabine. Our data also showed that growth factor EGF treatment decreased DPEP1 expression and MEK1/2 inhibitor AZD6244 increased DPEP1 expression in vitro, indicating a potential mechanism for DPEP1 gene regulation. Therefore, we provide evidence that DPEP1 plays a role in pancreatic cancer aggressiveness and predicts outcome in patients with resected PDAC. In view of these findings, we propose that DPEP1 may be a candidate target in PDAC for designing improved treatments.     

Progressive plasticity of auditory cortex during appetitive operant conditioning

In stimulus-response-outcome learning, different regions in the cortico-basal ganglia network are progressively involved according to the stage of learning. However, the involvement of sensory cortex remains ellusive even though massive cortical projections to the striatum imply its significant role in this learning. Here we show that the global tonotopic representation in the auditory cortex changed progressively depending on the stage of training in auditory operant conditioning. At the early stage, tone-responsive areas mainly in the core cortex expanded, while both the core and belt cortices shrank at the late stage as behavior became conditioned. Taken together with previous findings, this progressive global plasticity from the core to belt cortices suggests differentiated roles in these areas: the core cortex serves as a filter to better identify auditory objects for hierarchical computation within the belt cortex, while the belt stores auditory objects and affects decision making through direct projections to limbic system and higher association cortex. Thus, the progressive plasticity in the present study reflects a shift from identification to storage of a behaviorally relevant auditory object, which is potentially associated with a habitual behavior.     

Tetrahydrouridine inhibits cell proliferation through cell cycle regulation regardless of cytidine deaminase expression levels

Tetrahydrouridine (THU) is a well characterized and potent inhibitor of cytidine deaminase (CDA). Highly expressed CDA catalyzes and inactivates cytidine analogues, ultimately contributing to increased gemcitabine resistance. Therefore, a combination therapy of THU and gemcitabine is considered to be a potential and promising treatment for tumors with highly expressed CDA. In this study, we found that THU has an alternative mechanism for inhibiting cell growth which is independent of CDA expression. Three different carcinoma cell lines (MIAPaCa-2, H441, and H1299) exhibited decreased cell proliferation after sole administration of THU, while being unaffected by knocking down CDA. To investigate the mechanism of THU-induced cell growth inhibition, cell cycle analysis using flow cytometry was performed. This analysis revealed that THU caused an increased rate of G1-phase occurrence while S-phase occurrence was diminished. Similarly, Ki-67 staining further supported that THU reduces cell proliferation. We also found that THU regulates cell cycle progression at the G1/S checkpoint by suppressing E2F1. As a result, a combination regimen of THU and gemcitabine might be a more effective therapy than previously believed for pancreatic carcinoma since THU works as a CDA inhibitor, as well as an inhibitor of cell growth in some types of pancreatic carcinoma cells.     

Biological activity in the composting reactor of the bio-toilet system

The bio-toilet is becoming commercially available and it is actually used in Japan in public parks, sightseeing areas, and households; however, the biological activity in the system during degradation of toilet wastes, particularly faeces, is unknown. Thus, in this study activity of microorganisms in the bio-toilet system during degradation of faeces was assessed through the quantification of reductions in total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) during batch tests in laboratory-scale composting reactors. Additionally, the fate of nitrogen and its transformation processes in such reactors were evaluated. TS, VS, and COD reductions were on the order of 56%, 70%, and 75%, respectively, irrespective of the organic loading regarded. Total nitrogen (T-N) reductions quantified 94%, regardless of the organic loading. Furthermore, all T-N reductions observed during composting were equivalent to the NH(3)-N released from the reactor, i.e., 94% of ammonia was lost.     

Biodegradability of fecal nitrogen in composting process

Biodegradability of fecal nitrogen was studied in composting process. Fecal nitrogen was subdivided into two fractions: a type originally inert in biological activity (N(XI)), and a slowly biodegradable one (N(XS)). During the composting process, an inert type of organic matter (N(XIB)) was reproduced by endogenous respiration of heterotrophic microorganism. Evaluations for fecal nitrogen formed a conclusion of 75% (N(XS)) and 25% (N(XI)), respectively. It was estimated that the N(XIB) could be 9% of initial fecal nitrogen. Thus, approximately 34% (N(XI)+N(XIB)) of initial fecal nitrogen remained in the composting material (mixture of sawdust and feces) as biologically inert type of organic nitrogen.