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Introduction Developing prognostic markers can be useful for clinical decision‐making. Peripheral blood (PB) examination is simple and basic that can be performed in any facility. We aimed to investigate whether PB examination can predict prognosis in coronavirus disease (COVID‐19). Methods Complete blood count (CBC) and PB cell morphology were examined in 38 healthy controls (HCs) and 40 patients with COVID‐19. Patients with COVID‐19, including 26 mild and 14 severe cases, were hospitalized in Juntendo University Hospital (Tokyo, Japan) between April 1 and August 6, 2020. PB examinations were performed using Sysmex XN‐3000 automated hematology analyzer and Sysmex DI‐60 employing the convolutional neural network‐based automatic image‐recognition system. Results Compared with mild cases, severe cases showed a significantly higher incidence of anemia, lymphopenia, and leukocytosis (P

This paper uses a two-period overlapping generations model in order to provide a theoretical design for the optimal public pension system based on a partial equilibrium analysis. Household preferences depend on two periods' consumption and leisure and are positively homogeneous of degree m with respect to consumption in the working and retired periods. We present characteristic features of the optimal public pension system in this paper. First, differences in the population growth rate do not affect the large/small relation between the optimal net lifetime burden rates of generations. Second, we present the optimal public pension system explicitly if m

Genome mining of a terpene synthase gene from Emericella variecolor NBRC 32302 and its functional expression in Aspergillus oryzae led to the production of the new sesterterpene hydrocarbon, astellifadiene (1), having a 6-8-6-5-fused ring system. The structure of 1 was initially investigated by extensive NMR analyses, and was further confirmed by the crystalline sponge method, which established the absolute structure of 1 and demonstrated the usefulness of the method in the structure determination of complex hydrocarbon natural products. Furthermore, the biosynthesis of 1 was proposed on the basis of isotope-incorporation experiments performed both in vivo and in vitro. The cyclization of GFPP involves a protonation-initiated second cyclization sequence, 1,2-alkyl migration, and 1,5-hydride shift to generate the novel scaffold of 1.

Although periodate-oxidized dextran is widely used in biomedical applications, the degradation mechanism of oxidized dextran has not yet been elucidated. Herein, we propose a novel main chain scission mechanism of oxidized dextran triggered by reaction with amine. NMR analysis revealed four hemiacetal substructures during oxidation by periodate. Kinetic analysis showed that the degradation time constant of the C3-removed substructure and increasing time constant of the reducing end protons are consistent with the decrease in molecular weight determined by gel permeation chromatography. A methylene group is generated at the same time constant of degradation, indicating that oxidized dextran degradation proceeds via a Maillard reaction. Oxidized dextran does not degrade in saline solution without reactive amine species. Thus, we conclude that oxidized dextran is degraded in the main chain via Schiff base formation through a Maillard reaction, depending on the oxidation ratio and amino acid concentration. These findings help to elucidate the reaction mechanism of polysaccharide degradation and develop novel biodegradable polysaccharide materials for biomedical applications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016, 54, 2254–2260

Genome mining of a terpene synthase gene from Emericella variecolor NBRC 32302 and its functional expression in Aspergillus oryzae led to the production of the new sesterterpene hydrocarbon, astellifadiene (1), having a 6-8-6-5-fused ring system. The structure of 1 was initially investigated by extensive NMR analyses, and was further confirmed by the crystalline sponge method, which established the absolute structure of 1 and demonstrated the usefulness of the method in the structure determination of complex hydrocarbon natural products. Furthermore, the biosynthesis of 1 was proposed on the basis of isotope-incorporation experiments performed both in vivo and in vitro. The cyclization of GFPP involves a protonation-initiated second cyclization sequence, 1,2-alkyl migration, and 1,5-hydride shift to generate the novel scaffold of 1.

The general transcription factor TFII-I, with the corresponding gene name GTF2I, is an unusual transcriptional regulator that associates with both basal and signal-induced transcription factors. TFII-I consists of six GTF2I repeat domains, called I-repeats R1-R6. The structure and function of the GTF2I domain are not clearly understood, even though it contains a helix-loop-helix motif, which is considered to be the protein-protein interaction area, based on biochemical analyses. Here, we report the solution structure of the fifth repeat of the six GTF2I repeat domains from murine TFII-I, which was determined by heteronuclear multidimensional NMR spectroscopy (PDB code 1Q60). The three-dimensional structure of the GTF2I domain is classified as a new fold, consisting of four helices (residues 8-24, 34-39, 63-71, and 83-91), two antiparallel beta strands (residues 44-47 and 77-80), and a well-defined loop containing two beta-turns between sheet 1 and helix 3. All of the repeats probably have similar folds to that of repeat 5, because the conserved residues in the GTF2I repeat domains are assembled on the hydrophobic core, turns, and secondary structure elements, as revealed by a comparison of the sequences of the first through the sixth GTF2I repeats in TFII-I.

The detailed morphology of rat phrenic motoneurons (PMs) was studied in 40 electrophysiologically identified cells with intracellular injection of Neurobiotin. In 15 cells, the dendritic trees were fully analyzed by using path-distance analysis, and total surface area and volume were estimated. Based on their relative onset times (ROT; i.e., the time of firing onset relative to the onset of whole phrenic activity), PMs were classified into three types; early recruited (type E; ROT10%), late recruited (type L; ROT12.5%), and quiescent (type Q; not recruited under normal conditions). Dendrites constituted 93.3% of the surface area of cells and 38.9% of the cell volumes. The number of primary dendrites (nPD) averaged 10.1, and the mean number of terminations was 38.8. The combined diameters of primary dendrites of PMs correlated well with the total dendritic surface area and the number of dendritic terminations. Comparisons among cell types revealed that type Q cells had greater dendritic surface areas and volumes than type E or type L cells. With path-distance analysis, this difference was found to be due to differences between the cell types in the numbers of their dendrites, their combined dendritic lengths, and the number of their branches. The differences between these data and those available for cat motoneurons are discussed. The input resistance of PMs correlated with their total surface area but did not correlate with their somal surface area, indicating that, in rat, PM input resistance is a function of the entire neuronal membrane rather than of the somal surface alone.

Most of the 1H and 15N magnetic resonances of the 66 amino acid long POU homeodomain of mouse Oct-3 have been assigned by the combined use of the two-dimensional homonuclear, and two- and three-dimensional heteronuclear NMR methods. The sequential NOE connectivities and amide proton exchange measurements indicate the presence of three helical regions within the domain. The positions of the three helices correspond well to those of other homeodomains, the three-dimensional structures of which have already been determined. The present NMR study provides the first experimental evidence for the existence of a helix-turn-helix motif in the oct-3 POU homeodomain.

A photo-CIDNP spectrum of RNase T1 showed that 4 out of the total 9 tyrosines are accessible to the photosensitive dye, while none of the histidine and tryptophan residues are accessible. By comparison with the results of nitration of tyrosine side chains followed by peptide analysis, it can be concluded that Tyr 45 is mostly exposed on the surface of RNase T1. On addition of 2'-GMP, the signal of Tyr 45 shifts upfield and is remarkably broadened, which suggests that the phenyl ring of Tyr 45 stacks on the guanine ring of 2'-GMP. Similar phenomena were observed on addition of 3'-GMP and 3'-dGMP.

Although it has been indicated that proteins with chromophoric groups are not suitable for photo-chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP) measurements, we have successfully obtained these spectra for a heme protein, cytochrome b5. The characteristics of the spectra differed in some points from those so far reported. The intensities of the signals in the aromatic region were very weak, while those of the beta-methylene protons of one histidine and one tryptophan were extremely strong in comparison with the aromatic protons. It was demonstrated, on the basis of the photo-CIDNP spectrum, that one of seven histidines, all three tyrosines and a single tryptophan of the rabbit soluble cytochrome b5 are exposed on the surface of the protein. The results of comparison of the photo-CIDNP spectra for the rabbit soluble and intact, and bovine intact, cytochrome b5 led us to the conclusion that the conformation of the hydrophilic, catalytic part of cytochrome b5 is quite similar among these three proteins. In the presence of Chaps micelles, bovine intact cytochrome b5 was in monomeric form and the histidine signals disappeared from its photo-CIDNP spectrum. When bovine intact cytochrome b5 was reconstituted into egg yolk phosphatidylcholine liposomes, although separate signals due to the protein part were observed in the normal 1H-NMR spectrum, no photo-CIDNP signal could be detected. The normal spectrum suggests that the conformation of the protein embedded in liposomes is similar to that of the oligomeric form without lipids or a detergent.