The effects of ascorbic acid on the deodorizing activity of polyphenols against methanethiol (CH
3
SH) was investigated. The addition of ascorbic acid caused loss of the deodorizing activity of ...polyphenols against CH
3
SH. It was assumed that ascorbic acid prevented the oxidation of polyphenols, which is the essential step for the deodorizing action against CH
3
SH and so suppressed the deodorizing activity.
Activated neutrophils contribute to the development of preterm delivery. Because of its ability to suppress inflammation, bikunin, a Kunitz-type protease inhibitor, is currently in clinical trials. ...To investigate the molecular mechanism of this inhibition, we analyzed the effect of bikunin on pro-inflammatory cytokine production and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) activation in mouse neutrophils stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an inflammatory inducer. Here, we show that bikunin: (i) blocks LPS-induced secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α and IL-1β, in a dose-dependent manner; (ii) has an inhibitory effect on cytokine production at a concentration of 0.2 µM, reaching 65% inhibition at the highest doses of bikunin tested (5 µM); (iii) has the suppressive capacity of ERK1/2 and p38 signaling pathways; and (iv) inhibited sequentially the LPS-induced phosphorylation of IκB-α, degradation of IκB-α, and nuclear translocation of NF-κB. When the MAPK data are analyzed, a significant decrease in phosphorylation is not seen at 0.2 µM bikunin but is at 1.0 µM dosing. Bikunin can inhibit LPS-induced neutrophil activation and cytokine release, although it is unlikely that it works primarily through the inhibition of MAPK phosphorylation. These data suggest that such effects are important in vivo and play a major contributory role in abrogation of neutrophil-mediated inflammatory responses, such as preterm delivery.
Abstract
Motivation
Parameters of mathematical models used in biology may be genotype-specific and regarded as new traits. Therefore, an accurate estimation of these parameters and the association ...mapping on the estimated parameters can lead to important findings regarding the genetic architecture of biological processes. In this study, a statistical framework for a joint analysis (JA) of model parameters and genome-wide marker effects on these parameters was proposed and evaluated.
Results
In the simulation analyses based on different types of mathematical models, the JA inferred the model parameters and identified the responsible genomic regions more accurately than the independent analysis (IA). The JA of real plant data provided interesting insights into photosensitivity, which were uncovered by the IA.
Availability and implementation
The statistical framework is provided by the R package GenomeBasedModel available at https://github.com/Onogi/GenomeBasedModel. All R and C++ scripts used in this study are also available at the site.
Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
p-Hydroxyamphetamine (p-OHA) is an active metabolite of amphetamine (AMPH) and methamphetamine (METH), and can be detected in the brain for a relatively long period after high-dose administration of ...AMPH in rodents. p-OHA may be involved in the abnormal behavior observed during the withdrawal period after a chronic administration of AMPH or METH. Therefore, the author investigated the effect of an intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of p-OHA on the changes of locomotor activity and prepulse inhibition (PPI) in the acoustic startle response in rodents. The i.c.v. administration of p-OHA significantly increased locomotor activity in mice. This effect was prevented by a pretreatment with a dopamine (DA) uptake inhibitor. Furthermore, local infusion of p-OHA into the nucleus accumbens (NAc) significantly increased locomotor activity in rats. Together these results suggest that dopaminergic systems in the rodent NAc may play important roles in p-OHA-induced locomotor activity. Next, the author tested the effects of the i.c.v. administration of p-OHA on PPI in mice. p-OHA induced PPI disruptions that were significantly improved by the pretreatment with a typical or an atypical antipsychotic, D2 or D4 receptor antagonists, respectively. p-OHA-induced PPI disruptions were also improved by a serotonin (5-HT)2A receptor antagonist, a 5-HT synthesis inhibitor or a 5-HT neurotoxin. These results suggest that p-OHA-induced PPI disruptions were mediated by DA and 5-HT release and subsequent stimulation of D2, D4 and 5-HT2A receptors. Our recent series of reports indicate that the study of p-OHA may provide new insights into drug abuse as well as psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.
FLAG Review 2021 Aoki, Y.; Blum, T.; Colangelo, G. ...
The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
10/2022, Volume:
82, Issue:
10
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We review lattice results related to pion, kaon,
D
-meson,
B
-meson, and nucleon physics with the aim of making them easily accessible to the nuclear and particle physics communities. More ...specifically, we report on the determination of the light-quark masses, the form factor
f
+
(
0
)
arising in the semileptonic
K
→
π
transition at zero momentum transfer, as well as the decay constant ratio
f
K
/
f
π
and its consequences for the CKM matrix elements
V
us
and
V
ud
. Furthermore, we describe the results obtained on the lattice for some of the low-energy constants of
S
U
(
2
)
L
×
S
U
(
2
)
R
and
S
U
(
3
)
L
×
S
U
(
3
)
R
Chiral Perturbation Theory. We review the determination of the
B
K
parameter of neutral kaon mixing as well as the additional four
B
parameters that arise in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model. For the heavy-quark sector, we provide results for
m
c
and
m
b
as well as those for the decay constants, form factors, and mixing parameters of charmed and bottom mesons and baryons. These are the heavy-quark quantities most relevant for the determination of CKM matrix elements and the global CKM unitarity-triangle fit. We review the status of lattice determinations of the strong coupling constant
α
s
. We consider nucleon matrix elements, and review the determinations of the axial, scalar and tensor bilinears, both isovector and flavor diagonal. Finally, in this review we have added a new section reviewing determinations of scale-setting quantities.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is often considered as a sink for nutrients to generate heat. However, when the complex hormonal and nervous inputs and intracellular signaling networks regulating ...substrate utilization are considered, BAT appears much more as a tightly controlled rheostat, regulating body temperature and balancing circulating nutrient levels. Here we provide an overview of key regulatory circuits, including the diurnal rhythm, determining glucose, fatty acid, and amino acid utilization and the interdependency of these nutrients in thermogenesis. Moreover, we discuss additional factors mediating sympathetic BAT activation beyond β-adrenergic signaling and the limitations of glucose-based BAT activity measurements to foster a better understanding and interpretation of BAT activity data.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is an energy sink for thermogenesis and adapts metabolic fluxes to available nutrients in the circulation.BAT receives sympathetic and complex endocrine inputs regulating substrate preference and fine-tuning thermogenic function.The diurnal rhythm regulates BAT activity.Substrate preference in BAT differs between ethnic groups and in a variety of contexts, such as insulin sensitivity, diurnal rhythm, and intracellular enzymatic activity.
A
bstract
It is known that the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index can be reformulated as the eta invariant of the Dirac operators with a domain wall mass which plays a key role in the anomaly inflow of the ...topological insulator with boundary. In this paper, we give a conjecture that the reformulated version of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index can be given simply from the Berry phase associated with domain wall Dirac operators when adiabatic approximation is valid. We explicitly confirm this conjecture for a special case in two dimensions where an analytic calculation is possible. The Berry phase is divided into the bulk and the boundary contributions, each of which gives the bulk integration of the Chern character and the eta-invariant.
FLAG Review 2019 Aoki, S; Aoki, Y; Bečirević, D ...
The European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
02/2020, Volume:
80, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We review lattice results related to pion, kaon, D-meson, B-meson, and nucleon physics with the aim of making them easily accessible to the nuclear and particle physics communities. More ...specifically, we report on the determination of the light-quark masses, the form factor f+(0) arising in the semileptonic K→π transition at zero momentum transfer, as well as the decay constant ratio fK/fπ and its consequences for the CKM matrix elements Vus and Vud. Furthermore, we describe the results obtained on the lattice for some of the low-energy constants of SU(2)L×SU(2)R and SU(3)L×SU(3)R Chiral Perturbation Theory. We review the determination of the BK parameter of neutral kaon mixing as well as the additional four B parameters that arise in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model. For the heavy-quark sector, we provide results for mc and mb as well as those for D- and B-meson decay constants, form factors, and mixing parameters. These are the heavy-quark quantities most relevant for the determination of CKM matrix elements and the global CKM unitarity-triangle fit. We review the status of lattice determinations of the strong coupling constant αs. Finally, in this review we have added a new section reviewing results for nucleon matrix elements of the axial, scalar and tensor bilinears, both isovector and flavor diagonal.
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