We recently reported on the capsular polysaccharide (CP) synthesis (cps) genes of the oral streptococci, Streptococcus anginosus. In this study, we investigate the effects of carbon dioxide (CO2), ...bicarbonate (HCO3-) and unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) on CP synthesis of S. anginosus. We found that CP production increased when bacteria were exposed to high concentrations of CO2. This increase was similarly observed in the presence of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) under atmospheric condition. Since ectopic expression of carbonic anhydrase, which converts CO2 to HCO3-, eliminated the requirement for CO2 in CP production and growth of S. anginosus lacking this enzyme, it seemed that HCO3- is an essential factor for CP production. Furthermore, UFAs also stimulated the CP production. Promoter-reporter assay and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis confirmed that stimulation of CP production occurs at the transcription level. The results of the promoter assays suggest that the expression and stimulation of cps genes by HCO3- or UFAs require the cpsA gene, which is located in the first position of the cps operon. With respect to the relationship between HCO3−and UFAs, HCO3- may stimulate UFA synthesis pathway at transcription level. Therefore, it is possible that UFAs are definitive signals for the CP production in S. anginosus.
In this study, a brain network was created using graph theoretical analysis based on electroencephalography (EEG) data. The purpose of the study was to investigate the functional connectivity of the ...brain in different states of anxiety. Seventeen adults with anxiety (A‐G), and 13 adults without anxiety (AF‐G) were examined. They were given three different stimulations: resting, pleasant, and unpleasant. EEG was measured immediately after the stimulation. The EEG was analyzed by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), coherence analysis, and graph theory. The results of FFT and coherence analysis showed that the anxiety group (A‐G) had higher power spectra and coherence values than those for the anxiety‐free group (AF‐G) in all sessions. The results of graph theory analysis showed that the clustering coefficient and small‐worldness in A‐G were lower than those in AF‐G, although the characteristic path length in A‐G was higher than that in AF‐G. This study shows that the brain of A‐G has smaller clusters and longer paths to compare with those of AF‐G. These events suggest that the brain of A‐G would have an inefficient network structure to transmit emotional information.
We present the case of a 40-year-old woman who experienced severe hypertension during her first pregnancy. Hypertension persisted after delivery, prompting admission to the Department of ...Endocrinology and Metabolism at our hospital. Examination revealed an aldosterone-producing adenoma, and she was diagnosed with primary aldosteronism. Her hypertension was controlled using methyldopa. She became pregnant again in April 2019, and in the ninth week of pregnancy, she underwent her first medical examination of the artery. Subsequently, the methyldopa dose was increased to control her hypertension. However, her hypertension worsened, and she tested positive for urinary albumin, prompting hospital admission at 32 weeks of gestation. Her oral medication was changed to nifedipine, which was continued after her second delivery. However, her hypertension persisted. Therefore, a selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist was administered, and her hypertension improved. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists should be considered when blood pressure is poorly controlled owing to worsening primary aldosteronism.
Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 1 (NOD1) is an intracellular epithelial cell protein known to play a role in host defense at mucosal surfaces. Here we show that a ligand specific for NOD1, ...a peptide derived from peptidoglycan, initiates an unexpected signaling pathway in human epithelial cell lines that results in the production of type I IFN. Detailed analysis revealed the components of the signaling pathway. NOD1 binding to its ligand triggered activation of the serine-threonine kinase RICK, which was then able to bind TNF receptor-associated factor 3 (TRAF3). This in turn led to activation of TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) and IkappaB kinase epsilon (IKKepsilon) and the subsequent activation of IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF7). IRF7 induced IFN-beta production, which led to activation of a heterotrimeric transcription factor complex known as IFN-stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3) and the subsequent production of CXCL10 and additional type I IFN. In vivo studies showed that mice lacking the receptor for IFN-beta or subjected to gene silencing of the ISGF3 component Stat1 exhibited decreased CXCL10 responses and increased susceptibility to Helicobacter pylori infection, phenotypes observed in NOD1-deficient mice. These studies thus establish that NOD1 can activate the ISGF3 signaling pathway that is usually associated with protection against viral infection to provide mice with robust type I IFN-mediated protection from H. pylori and possibly other mucosal infections.
Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a risk factor for the development of gastric cancer. Here we show that infection of gastric epithelial cells with 'cag' pathogenicity island ...(cagPAI)-positive H. pylori induced aberrant expression of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), a member of the cytidine-deaminase family that acts as a DNA- and RNA-editing enzyme, via the IkappaB kinase-dependent nuclear factor-kappaB activation pathway. H. pylori-mediated upregulation of AID resulted in the accumulation of nucleotide alterations in the TP53 tumor suppressor gene in gastric cells in vitro. Our findings provide evidence that aberrant AID expression caused by H. pylori infection might be a mechanism of mutation accumulation in the gastric mucosa during H. pylori-associated gastric carcinogenesis.
A multiplex PCR assay in a single tube was developed for the detection of the carbapenemase genes of Enterobacteriaceae. Primers were designed to amplify the following six carbapenemase genes: ...blaKPC, blaIMP, blaNDM, blaVIM, blaOXA-48-like, and blaGES. Of 70 blaIMP variants, 67 subtypes were simulated to be PCR-positive based on in silico simulation and the primer-design strategy. After determining the optimal PCR conditions and performing in vitro assays, the performance of the PCR assay was evaluated using 51 and 91 clinical isolates with and without carbapenemase genes, respectively. In conclusion, the combination of multiplex PCR primers and QIAGEN Multiplex PCR Plus Kit was used to determine the best performance for the rapid and efficient screening of carbapenemase genes in Enterobacteriaceae. The assay had an overall sensitivity and specificity of 100%. This PCR assay compensates for the limitations of phenotypic testing, such as antimicrobial susceptibility testing and the modified carbapenem inactivation method, in clinical and public health settings.
The Vocabulary Size Test (VST) was designed to measure the vocabulary needed for reading. Recent research, however, has questioned the “meaning-recognition” construct measured by the VST, arguing ...that “meaning-recall” is a more accurate estimate of reading vocabulary. The present study compared four variants of the VST to determine which, if any, could be used as an expedient proxy for estimating meaning-recall knowledge. Two hundred Japanese university students completed a criterion meaning-recall measure of VST target words and one of four randomly-assigned VST variants: monolingual, monolingual with an “I don’t know” option (IDK), bilingual, or bilingual with IDK. The bilingual+IDK variant (r = .77) had a significantly lower correlation with the meaning-recall measure than the other three versions (r = .88 to .91). The lower r-value for the bilingual+IDK version appears to have been caused by pronounced differences in IDK use among learners who sat that version of the test. The study concludes that other variants could effectively be used to rank or group learners by meaning-recall knowledge. However, for estimates of reading vocabulary size, measures of meaning-recall should be used, or raw VST scores need to be adjusted to account for differences between VST and meaning-recall scores.
Genes conferring carbapenem resistance have spread worldwide among gram-negative bacteria. Subtyping of these genes has epidemiological value due to the global cross-border movement of people. ...Subtyping of blaIMP genes that frequently detected in Japan appears to be important in public health settings; however, there are few useful tools for this purpose. We developed a subtyping screening tool based on PCR direct sequencing, which targets the internal sequences of almost all blaIMP genes. The tool used bipartite multiplex primers with M13 universal sequences at the 5'-end. According to in silico analysis, among the 78 known IMP-type genes, except for blaIMP-81, 77 detected genes were estimated to be differentiated. In vitro evaluation indicated that sequences of amplicons of IMP-1, IMP-6, IMP-7, and IMP-20 templates were identical to their respective subtypes. Even if the amplicons were small or undetectable through the first PCR, sufficient amplicons for DNA sequencing were obtained through a second PCR using the M13 universal primers. In conclusion, our tool can be possibly used for subtype screening of blaIMP, which is useful for the surveillance of bacteria with blaIMP in clinical and public health settings or environmental fields.
Tens of thousands of cases of invasive meningococcal diseases (IMD) with thousands of deaths are reported annually worldwide; however, only approximately 40 cases occur each year in Japan. Therefore, ...the majority of medical technologists in Japan have never performed or prepared for analyses of the causative agent, Neisseria meningitidis. Since IMD outbreaks have been reported at mass gathering events, the risk of IMD will increase in Japan in 2021 because of the Olympics. In the present study, we developed a new simple gel-based duplex PCR method that may be employed by the majority Japanese clinical laboratories. It is simple to perform and time- and cost-effectively identifies encapsulated and unencapsulated N. meningitidis by detecting the encapsulated N. meningitidis-specific ctrB and N. meningitidis-specific ggt genes. We consider this simple and cost-effective identification method to compensate for the lack of experience and resource-poor conditions in most Japanese laboratories in which N. meningitidis has rarely been examined.
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