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Glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 13 is among the main families of enzymes acting on starch; recently, subfamily 47 of GH13 (GH13_47) has been established. The crystal structure and function of a GH13_47 enzyme from Bacteroides ovatus has only been reported to date. This enzyme has α‐amylase activity, while the GH13_47 enzymes comprise approximately 800–900 amino acid residues which are almost double those of typical α‐amylases. It is important to know how different the GH13_47 enzymes are from other α‐amylases. Rhodothermus marinus JCM9785, a thermophilic bacterium, possesses a gene for the GH13_47 enzyme, which is designated here as RmGH13_47A. Its structure has been predicted to be composed of seven domains: N1, N2, N3, A, B, C, and D. We constructed a plasmid encoding Gly266‐Glu886, which contains the N3, A, B, and C domains and expressed the protein in Escherichia coli. The enzyme hydrolyzed starch and pullulan by a neopullulanase‐type action. Additionally, the enzyme acted on maltotetraose, and saccharides with α‐1,6‐glucosidic linkages were observed in the products. Following the replacement of the catalytic residue Asp563 with Ala, the crystal structure of the variant D563A in complex with the enzymatic products from maltotetraose was determined; as a result, electron density for an α‐1,6‐branched pentasaccharide was observed in the catalytic pocket, and Ile762 and Asp763 interacted with the branched chain of the pentasaccharide. These findings suggest that RmGH13_47A is an α‐amylase that prefers α‐1,6‐branched parts of starch to produce oligosaccharides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, due to the prevalence of virtual reality (VR) and human-computer interaction (HCI) research, along with the expectation that understanding the process of establishing sense of ownership, sense of agency, and limb heaviness (in this study, limb heaviness is replaced with comfort level) will contribute to the development of various medical rehabilitation, various studies have been actively conducted in these fields. Previous studies have indicated that each perceptual characteristics decrease in response to positive delay. However, it is still unclear how each perceptual characteristic changes in response to negative delay. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to deduce how changes occur in the perceptual characteristics when certain settings are manipulated using the avatar developed in this study. This study conducted experiments using an avatar system developed for this research that uses electromyography as the interface. Two separate experiments involved twelve participants: a preliminary experiment and a main experiment. As observed in the previous study, it was confirmed that each perceptual characteristics decreased for positive delay. In addition, the range of the preliminary experiment was insufficient for the purpose of this study, which was to confirm the perceptual characteristics for negative delay, thus confirming the validity of conducting this experiment. Meanwhile, the main experiment showed that the sense of ownership, sense of agency, and comfort level decreased gradually as delay time decreased, (i.e., this event is prior to action with intention, which could not be examined in the previous study). This suggests that control by the brain-machine interface is difficult to use when it is too fast. In addition, the distribution of the most strongly perceived settings in human perceptual characteristics was wider in regions with larger delays, suggesting this may lead to the evaluation of an internal model believed to exist in the human cerebellum. The avatar developed for this study may have the potential to create a new experimental paradigm for perceptual characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess the safety and effectiveness of baricitinib treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in real-world clinical practice. Methods: This ongoing all-case post-marketing surveillance study (starting September 2017) includes all patients with RA treated with baricitinib in Japan. Safety and effectiveness (disease activity) were assessed for 24 weeks. Results: Safety analyses to February 2021 included 4731 patients (initial baricitinib dose: 4 mg/day, n =3058; 2 mg/day, n =1661; other, n =12); 1059 (22.38%) were ≥75 years and 3362 (71.06%) previously received biologic therapy. The overall observational period was 1863.14 patientyears; 1174 (24.82%) patients discontinued baricitinib before Week 24, mostly for lack of effectiveness (n =478; 10.10%). Adverse events occurred in 1271 (26.87%) patients [serious: 203 (4.29%); death: 18 (0.38%)]. The incidence of herpes zoster, hepatic function disorder, and serious infection was 3.09%, 2.77%, and 1.90%, respectively. Malignancy occurred in 17 patients (0.36%) and major adverse cardiovascular events in seven patients (0.15%). Among patients with effectiveness data, at least 26.57% (Boolean) achieved remission at Week 24. Conclusions: This large nationwide surveillance study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of 24 weeks of baricitinib for RA in real-world clinical practice. Continued surveillance of long-term safety is ongoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]