Sulfatide is 3-O-sulfogalactosylceramide that is synthesized by two transferases (ceramide galactosyltransferase and cerebroside sulfotransferase) from ceramide and is specifically degraded by a ...sulfatase (arylsulfatase A). Sulfatide is a multifunctional molecule for various biological fields including the nervous system, insulin secretion, immune system, hemostasis/thrombosis, bacterial infection, and virus infection. Therefore, abnormal metabolism or expression change of sulfatide could cause various diseases. Here, we discuss the important biological roles of sulfatide in the nervous system, insulin secretion, immune system, hemostasis/thrombosis, cancer, and microbial infections including human immunodeficiency virus and influenza A virus. Our review will be helpful to achieve a comprehensive understanding of sulfatide, which serves as a fundamental target of prevention of and therapy for nervous disorders, diabetes mellitus, immunological diseases, cancer, and infectious diseases
Sialidase releases sialic acid residues from the ends of sugar chains. The sialidases are involved in many physiological processes including cell differentiation and proliferation and immune function ...as well as pathophysiological conditions such as various human cancers and infections. Therefore visualization of sialidase activities with high sensitivity could provide valuable insights into these isozyme’s activity. We developed novel fluorescent sialidase substrates, 2-benzothiazol-2-yl-phenol derivatives-based N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) (BTP-Neu5Ac) substrates, for highly sensitive and specific visualization of sialidase activity in living mammalian tissues and virus-infected cells. We found that BTP-Neu5Ac can visualize sialidase activities sensitively and selectively in rat tissues including brain slices. BTP-Neu5Ac can also clearly detect cancer cells implanted orthotopically in mouse colons and human colon cancers. In this review, I describe imaging of sialidase activity with BTP-Neu5Ac in animal tissues, detection of colon cancer, memory formation, detection of virus-infected cells, and application to drug-resistant influenza virus detection and separation.
Background To make China a superpower, Xi Jinping has provided the United Front Work (UFW) with large-scale resources to secure China's domestics stability and global outreach of its national power. ...Purpose This article investigates why and how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Xi administration has been vigorously trying to co-opt politically non-communist forces at home and abroad by means of the UFW. The above analysis also sheds ligt on the characteristics of Xi's political thought, leadership style as well as his idea of political strategy for the "Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation (zhonghua minzu weida fuxing)." Main Argument In foreign activities, China's influence through developing various UFW institutional settings has been strengthened. However, its construction of human network which contributes to CCP's political aims and its maintenance of information flaw bases have been mostly made up of personal effort in the long-term activity of the UFW. Conclusions It is true that the democratic regimes need to adopt a cautious approach toward China's foreign influence, but to identify activities of the UFW in their homeland is not so much difficult because they are usually patterned in most cases. Then, in the research on the UFW, Xi Jinping's political conservativeness has again become highlighted. The basic orientation of his political thinking is not the reform and innovation of the regime, but the revival of 'good tradition' and renovation of the CCP.
The majority of breast cancers are primarily hormone‐sensitive and can be managed by endocrine therapy, although therapy‐resistant or hormone‐refractory cancers need alternative treatments. Recently, ...increasing attention is being paid to RNA‐binding proteins (RBP) in cancer pathophysiology. The precise role of RBP in breast cancer, however, remains to be clarified. We herein show that an RBP non‐POU domain‐containing octamer binding (NONO) plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of breast cancers regardless of their hormone dependency. Clinicopathological and immunohistochemical study of 127 breast cancer cases showed that NONO is a significant independent prognostic factor for breast cancer patients. Notably, siRNA‐mediated NONO knockdown substantially repressed the proliferation of both hormone‐sensitive MCF‐7 and hormone‐refractory MB‐MDA‐231 breast cancer cells. Integrative analysis combined with expression microarray and RIP‐sequencing (RNA immunoprecipitation‐sequencing) showed that NONO post‐transcriptionally regulates the expression of cell proliferation‐related genes by binding to their mRNAs, as exemplified by S‐phase‐associated kinase 2 and E2F transcription factor 8. Overall, these results suggest that NONO is a key regulator for breast cancer proliferation through the pre‐mRNA splicing of cell proliferation‐related genes and could be a potential new diagnostic and therapeutic target for advanced disease.
The present study shows that Drosophila behavior human splicing family RNA‐binding protein NONO plays a critical role in breast cancer tumorigenesis. Clinicopathological study defines that NONO immunoreactivity significantly correlates with poor overall and distant disease‐free survival of breast cancer patients. Cell‐based experiments show that NONO contributes to breast cancer proliferation by regulating SKP2 and E2F8 expression at the post‐transcriptional level. Our findings provide a new cancer strategy by applying NONO as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic target for breast cancer.
where ds_y is the line or surface element and \nu _y is the outer normal derivative on \partial \Omega . It is known that K is a compact operator on L^2(\partial \Omega ) and consists of at most a ...countable number of eigenvalues, with 0 as the only possible limit point. This paper aims to establish some relationships among the eigenvalues, the eigenfunctions, and the geometry of \partial \Omega .>
: The present study investigated the function of satisfaction and frustration of the basic psychological needs – autonomy, competence, and relatedness – that contribute to subjective well‐being ...(life‐satisfaction, vitality, and depression) through a back‐translation procedure of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS). A total of 564 Japanese undergraduates (356 males, 205 females, three unknown; M
age = 18.61 years, SD = 1.48) participated in a questionnaire survey. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the BPNSFS had the same six‐factor structure as that found in the original version. Structural equation modeling showed that satisfaction of each of the three needs contributed to the prediction of subjective well‐being (life satisfaction and vitality), whereas frustration of each need uniquely contributed to the prediction of ill‐being (depressed affect). These results support previous findings found in Belgium, China, the USA, and Peru, confirming that satisfaction of basic psychological needs represents a critical element for healthy functioning across cultures. However, controlling for the effects of the Big Five personality traits indicates the possible over‐estimation for the functions of the needs while clarifying these roles.
J. Neurochem. (2011) 117, 333–345.
We have obtained, for the first time, a quantitative protein expression profile of membrane transporters and receptors in human brain microvessels, that is, the ...blood–brain barrier (BBB). Brain microvessels were isolated from brain cortexes of seven males (16–77 years old) and protein expression of 114 membrane proteins was determined by means of a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric quantification method using recently established in‐silico peptide selection criteria. Among drug transporters, breast cancer resistance protein showed the most abundant protein expression (8.14 fmol/μg protein), and its expression level was 1.85‐fold greater in humans than in mice. By contrast, the expression level of P‐glycoprotein in humans (6.06 fmol/μg protein) was 2.33‐fold smaller than that of mdr1a in mice. The organic anion transporters reported in rodent BBB, that is, multidrug resistance‐associated protein, organic anion transporter and organic anion‐transporting polypeptide family members, were under limit of quantification in humans, except multidrug resistance‐associated protein 4 (0.195 fmol/μg protein). Among detected transporters and receptors for endogenous substances, the glucose transporter 1 level was similar to that of mouse, while the L‐type amino acid transporter 1 level was fivefold smaller than that of mouse. These findings should be useful for understanding human BBB function and its differences from that in mouse.
The goal of medtech company is neither premarket approval in regulatory process nor insurance coverage (reimbursement), but success in business. Premarket approval is necessary for business launch, ...but they are not enough for success. Insurance coverage is not unique method of monetization, but just ONE of various methods. A company must make enough profit to manage the company, to pay salaries to employees, to keep supplying products stably to hospitals, and to invest in development of new products.This presentation shares some basic knowledge of social insurance system in Japan (special treatment materials and doctors fee) to gain fundamental understandings of monetization of medtech business. In addition, some business models are introduced concerning self-pay care and health promotion including pre-symptomatic disease.
Developing therapeutic approaches are necessary for treating hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Activation of androgen receptor (AR) and its variants’ expression along with the downstream signals ...are mostly important for disease progression. However, the mechanism for marked increases of AR signals and its expression is still unclear. Here, we revealed that various spliceosome genes are aberrantly induced by RNA-binding protein PSF, leading to enhancement of the splicing activities for AR expression. Our high-speed sequence analyses identified global PSF-binding transcripts. PSF was shown to stabilize and activate key long noncoding RNAs and AR-regulated gene expressions in prostate cancer cells. Interestingly, mRNAs of spliceosome-related genes are putative primary targets of PSF. Their gene expressions are up-regulated by PSF in hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Moreover, PSF coordinated these spliceosome proteins to form a complex to promote AR splicing and expression. Thus, targeting PSF and its related pathways implicates the therapeutic possibility for hormone-refractory prostate cancer.
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