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Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are major host cells for biopharmaceuticals. During culture, the chromosome number of CHO cells alters spontaneously. Here, we investigated the effects of artificial changes in the chromosome number on productivity. When cell fusion between antibody-producing CHO-K1-derived cells was induced, we observed a wide range of aneuploidy that was not detected in controls. In particular, antibody productivities were high in clone-derived cell populations that retained a diverse chromosome number distribution. We also induced aneuploid cells using 3-aminobenzamide that causes chromosome non-disjunction. After induction of aneuploidy by 3-aminobenzamide, cells with an increased chromosome number were isolated, but cells with a decreased chromosome number could not be isolated. When antibody expression vectors were introduced into these isolated clones, productivity tended to increase in cells with an increased chromosome number. Further analysis was carried out by focusing on clone 5E8 with an average chromosome number of 37. When 5E8 cells were used as host, the productivity of multiple antibodies, including difficult-to-express antibodies, was improved compared with CHO-K1 cells. The copies of exogenous genes integrated into the genome were significantly increased in 5E8 cells. These findings expand the possibilities for host cell selection and contribute to the efficient construction of cell lines for recombinant protein production.

This study is a preliminary spatial-temporal assessment method of the ungauged catchment to determine the variation in water quality (WQ) and the land use influence on river basins’ health. The intermittent WQ data, the principal component analysis, and the redundancy analysis were used to evaluate the (dis)similarity among the 10 ungauged streams and their significance in the entire catchment. These revealed some similarities/differences in nutrient pollution and latent land-use influence on the streams’ health. There were similarities between R6-R7, R9-R10, among R1 to R4 basins, while R5 and R8 had distinct variances in their WQ dynamics. The intensive vegetable and rice production in R5, R7, R8, R9, and R10 basins were the major sources of high nutrient concentrations. The unique variations, especially in R5 and R8 basins could be attributed to other different pollution sources. Hence, it’s of great significance to carry out comprehensive research in the above 5 river basins. That is the efficiency of management practices, identification of pollution sources, and the extent to which the elevated nutrients in the streams interact with biota within the river regime. This research offers a method to evaluate WQ dynamics in relation to human interferences in river basins of a catchment with limited data under similar climatic conditions.

Humidity and moisture effects, frequently called water poisoning, in surroundings are inevitable for various molecular sensing devices, strongly affecting their sensing characteristics. Here, we demonstrate a water-selective nanostructured dehumidifier composed of ZnO/TiO

Japan’s postwar policies with respect to forestry management have led to the aging of planted forests and a shift toward large-diameter logs that has created a challenge for how to use such logs in...

A 60-year-old man visited our hospital to treat a large cystic mass in the pelvis which had been found by abdominal ultrasonography in December 201X. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a multilocular cyst with a maximum diameter of about 10 cm. CT-guided drainage and sclerotherapy with minocycline reduced the size of tumor by 40%, but symptoms such as difficulty of defecation and urinary frequency appeared a year and a half later due to re-enlargement of the cysts. Laparoscopic resection of the multilocular cysts was performed, and all cysts were removed almost completely using transrectal ultrasonography. The multilocular cyst was positive for NKX3.1 by immunohistochemical staining, and was diagnosed as a giant multilocular prostatic cystadenoma. After surgery, the symptoms such as difficulty of defecation and urinary frequency were relieved promptly. One year after the surgery, the patient was free from recurrence of the disease.

This paper presents a framework for mapping flow information from the gauged to the ungauged river basins. The calibration and validation of a hydrologic model were conducted to establish basic watershed characteristics. The new framework was then applied to account for the two watersheds' proportionality in their similarity, such as the influence of land use on transplanting flow signatures. Three land-use scenarios-discharges at the ungauged and gauged sites formed the basis of an equation mapping the gauged discharge signal to the ungauged site. In comparison with intermittent observed data, the framework prediction attained a precision of 0.85≥NSE≤0.95, 0.80≥R2≤0.94, 0.56≥bR2≤0.89. Despite considerable differences in the watershed area, slope, soils, and land cover, the framework satisfactorily depicted the variation in flow pulses of each river. In the absence of established hydrological information, this provides an alternative flow estimation at ungauged sites, reducing uncertainties in the regionalization of model parameters.

Background We focused on the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and devised an inflammation-based prognostic index (IBPI) as a prognostic marker of cancer-specific survival (CSS).MethodsWe reviewed the clinicopathological data of 480 patients with gastric cancer undergoing curative laparoscopic gastrectomy between January 2009 and December 2019. This study examined the significance of LMR, NLR, PLR, and IBPI as cancer-specific prognostic markers.ResultsIn univariate analysis, tumor diameter, histological differentiation, pathological tumor-node-metastasis (pTNM) stage, LMR, NLR, PLR, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and postoperative chemotherapy were significantly associated with CSS. In multivariate analysis, pTNM stage and CEA were the independent risk factors for CSS, although LMR, NLR, and PLR were not the independent risk factors for CSS. The IBPI formula was constructed using hazard ratios for three inflammation-based biomarkers with worse prognosis identified in the univariate analysis: LMR < 4.315, NLR ≥ 2.344, and PLR ≥ 212.01, which were each pointed as 1, with all remaining values pointed at 0. IBPI was calculated as follows: IBPI = 2.9 × LMR + 2.8 × NLR + 2.8 × PLR. The optimal cutoff value of IBPII was 2.9. On multivariate analysis, pTNM stage, CEA, and IBPI were independent prognostic factors for CSS. In the Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, CSS in the high IBPI group was significantly worse than that in the low IBPI group.ConclusionIBPI was devised as a novel predictive index for prognosis, and its usefulness was clarified.

Thinned immature fruit of the mango tree (Mangifera indica ‘Irwin’) are handled as waste. In this study, we conducted a 90-days toxicity study in male and female Sprague Dawley rats to evaluate the safety of a hot-water extract of thinned immature mango fruits (TIMEx) administered by oral gavage at doses of 500, 1000 and 2500 mg/kg body weight/day. Treatment did not result in death or changes in the behavior or external appearance of the animals. No alterations were observed in hematological or serum chemical parameters, urinalysis, food consumption, body weight gain or organ weights at the end of the treatment period, with the exception of higher mean corpuscular volume in male rats that received high doses and lower serum creatine phosphokinase levels in female rats that received medium doses. Under the conditions of this study and based on the toxicological endpoints evaluated, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for TIMEx was 2500 mg/kg/day. The findings indicate that TIMEx is safe for consumption and should be investigated as a candidate food.

Self-sorting double network hydrogels comprising orthogonal supramolecular nanofibers have attracted attention as artificially-regulated multi-component systems. Regulation of network patterns of self-sorted nanofibers is considered as a key for potential applications such as optoelectronics, but still challenging owing to a lack of useful methods to prepare and analyze the network patterns. Herein, we describe the selective construction of two distinct self-sorting network patterns, interpenetrated and parallel, by controlling the kinetics of seed formation with dynamic covalent oxime chemistry. Confocal imaging reveals the interpenetrated self-sorting network was formed upon addition of O-benzylhydroxylamine to a benzaldehyde-tethered peptide-type hydrogelator in the presence of lipid-type nanofibers. We also succeed in construction of a parallel self-sorting network through deceleration of seed formation using a slow oxime exchange reaction. Through careful observation, the formation of peptide-type seeds and nanofibers is shown to predominantly occur on the surface of the lipid-type nanofibers via highly dynamic and thermally-fluctuated processes., 自己組織化する分子繊維のネットワークを種形成の制御で作り分けることに成功 --人工スマートマテリアル設計の新機軸として期待--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-08-26.

Breath odor sensing-based individual authentication was conducted for the first time using an artificial olfactory sensor system. Using a 16-channel chemiresistive sensor array and machine learning, a mean accuracy of97% was successfully achieved. The impact of the number of sensors on the accuracy and reproducibility was also demonstrated.

The thinned immature fruit of the mango tree (

Polymer-carbon nanocomposite sensor is a promising molecular sensing device for electronic nose (e-nose) due to its printability, variety of polymer materials, and low operation temperature; however, the lack of stability in an air environment has been an inevitable issue. Here, we demonstrate a design concept for realizing long-term stability in a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-carbon black (CB) nanocomposite sensor by understanding the underlying phenomena that cause sensor degradation. Comparison of the sensing properties and infrared spectroscopy on the same device revealed that the oxidation-induced consumption of PEG is a crucial factor for the sensor degradation. According to the mechanism, we introduced an antioxidizing agent (i.e., ascorbic acid) into the PEG-CB nanocomposite sensor to suppress the PEG oxidation and successfully demonstrated the long-term stability of sensing properties under an air environment for 30 days, which had been difficult in conventional polymer-carbon nanocomposite sensors.

Out-of-equilibrium patterns arising from diffusion processes are ubiquitous in nature, although they have not been fully exploited for the design of artificial materials. Here, we describe the formation of phototriggered out-of-equilibrium patterns using photoresponsive peptide-based nanofibers in a self-sorting double network hydrogel. Light irradiation using a photomask followed by thermal incubation induced the spatially controlled condensation of peptide nanofibers. According to confocal images and spectroscopic analyses, metastable nanofibers photodecomposed in the irradiated areas, where thermodynamically stable nanofibers reconstituted and condensed with a supply of monomers from the nonirradiated areas. These supramolecular events were regulated by light and diffusion to facilitate the creation of unique out-of-equilibrium patterns, including two lines from a one-line photomask and a line pattern of a protein immobilized in the hydrogel.

We present a method named NPFimg, which automatically identifies multivariate chemo-/biomarker features of analytes in chromatography-mass spectrometry (MS) data by combining image processing and machine learning. NPFimg processes a two-dimensional MS map (m/z vs retention time) to discriminate analytes and identify and visualize the marker features. Our approach allows us to comprehensively characterize the signals in MS data without the conventional peak picking process, which suffers from false peak detections. The feasibility of marker identification is successfully demonstrated in case studies of aroma odor and human breath on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) even at the parts per billion level. Comparison with the widely used XCMS shows the excellent reliability of NPFimg, in that it has lower error rates of signal acquisition and marker identification. In addition, we show the potential applicability of NPFimg to the untargeted metabolomics of human breath. While this study shows the limited applications, NPFimg is potentially applicable to data processing in diverse metabolomics/chemometrics using GC-MS and liquid chromatography-MS. NPFimg is available as open source on GitHub (http://github.com/poomcj/NPFimg) under the MIT license.

Radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine (47Sc, 67Cu, 68Ga, 105Rh, 177Lu, and 188Re) were produced by an electron linear accelerator in this study. Neutron irradiation was investigated as an alternative method for producing 105Rh and 177Lu, and the results were compared with those obtained with the electron linear accelerator. All the radioisotopes except for 177Lu were produced efficiently by the electron linear accelerator. Electron linear accelerators were thus demonstrated to show the desired performance for the on-demand production of medical radioisotopes at consuming places such as hospitals.

Background: Maltose is a disaccharide formed from two units of glucose. The amount of maltose in raw sweet potatoes reportedly increased by more than 40-fold after baking. We aimed to investigate the effects of maltose consumption on diet-induced obesity using a mouse model.Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice were divided into three dietary groups: a control diet of American Institute of Nutrition (AIN)-93 (CD), an AIN-93-based 30% high-fat diet (HFD), or an HFD diet containing 7.0% maltose (HFD+Mal). After 13 weeks, body mass index, blood glucose, lipid parameters, including total cholesterol and triglyceride, and hepatic fatty acid content were evaluated. Results: After 6 weeks on the special diet, weight gain was significantly higher in the HFD+Mal group than in the HFD group. The body mass index rose steadily and was significantly higher in the HFD+Mal group (5.03 ± 0.22), compared to the CD (3.32 ± 0.30) and HFD (4.57 ± 0.40) groups at 12 weeks. The relative liver weight per weight was also significantly higher in the HFD+Mal group than in the other two groups. The increases in blood glucose levels were more significant in the HFD+Mal group compared to the HFD group, as were the plasma levels of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and non-HDL-cholesterol. In the liver, levels of the following fatty acids increased in both the HFD and HFD+Mal groups relative to those in the CD group: C14:0 (myristic acid), C16:0 (palmitic acid), C18:0 (stearic acid), C18:1 (oleic acid), C18:2 (linoleic acid) and C18:3 (α-linolenic acid). Additionally, the C16:0 content in the HFD+Mal group was significantly higher than that in the HFD group. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that daily consumption of maltose exacerbated the development of obesity and related parameters, including body mass index and plasma cholesterol levels, under the high-fat diet consumption. It is possible that the consumption of maltose-rich cooked sweet potatoes, as part of an overall HFD, might exacerbate HFD-induced overweight.Keywords: high-fat diet-induced obesity, maltose, mice, roasting, sweet potato

Self-assembly is promising for construction of a wide variety of supramolecular assemblies, whose 1D/2D/3D structures are typically relevant to their functions. In-depth understanding of their structure-function relationships is essential for rational design and development of functional molecular assemblies. Microscopic imaging has been used as a powerful tool to elucidate structures of individual molecular assemblies with subnanometer to millimeter resolution, which is complementary to conventional spectroscopic techniques that provide the ensemble structural information. In this review, we highlight the representative examples of visualization of molecular assemblies by use of electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, confocal microscopy, and super-resolution microscopy. This review comprehensively describes imaging of supramolecular nanofibers/gels, micelles/vesicles, coacervate droplets, polymer assemblies, and protein/DNA assemblies. Advanced imaging techniques that can address key challenges, like evaluation of dynamics of molecular assemblies, multicomponent self-assembly, and self-assembly/disassembly in complex cellular milieu, are also discussed. We believe this review would provide guidelines for deeper structural analyses of molecular assemblies to develop the next-generation materials.

In the present study, we evaluated the effects of daily consumption of raw (RR) or sun-dried (SDR) radishes (Raphanus sativus cv. YR-Hyuga-Risou) on apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE-/- ) mice. Daily consumption of RR for 16 weeks significantly decreased body weight gain in the both wild-type and ApoE-/- mice. The wild-type mice fed the SDR diet gained significantly less body weight than the ApoE-/- mice fed the same diet, although the ApoE-/- mice showed a trend toward decreased body weight gain. Consumption of both diets led to a marked decrease in visceral fat weight and serum triglyceride levels in ApoE-/- mice. Oral fat tolerance tests indicated that pretreatment with RR or SDR mitigated the increase in serum triglyceride levels seen after oil administration. In conclusion, we found that daily consumption of both RR- and SDR-containing diets can help us to prevent from dyslipidemia by inhibiting fat absorption.

The purpose of this chapter is to review progress in our understanding of human behavior and decision-making relevant to future earth research agenda, and propose Decision Science as a hub of knowledge networks connecting disciplinary and interdisciplinary sciences with the practice of problem-solving. This review is composed of four sections. First, we describe the conceptual framework of “decision science for a sustainable society” and argue that evolutionary biology of the human nature is key to construct this framework. Second, we review how our group decision-making often fails due to various cognitive biases and argue that participatory approaches of co-design and co-production do not guarantee reasonable decision-making. Third, we review success stories of problem-solving in local communities and consider how we can connect those successes in local communities to successful national and global decision-making. Fourth, learning from both failures and successes, we argue that the adaptive learning of society is a process enabling us to transform our society toward a sustainable future. We review some positive global trends toward sustainability and consider the cognitive processes and behavioral mechanisms behind those trends that would provide clues for finding successful ways to transform our society.

We use an in-depth survey of institutional investors investing in Japan to reveal the homogeneity and heterogeneity of their views on corporate governance regulations. Their opinions exhibited high homogeneity in favoring legislative intervention in corporate management but nuanced heterogeneity with respect to the degree of intervention that they regarded as desirable. A certain cluster of investors, to which investment trusts and advisors were more likely to belong, tended to prefer stronger legal intervention; these investors favored strict tender-offer rules, and they more clearly supported intervention in the composition of boards and the pursuit of executive liability. These reactions may have been motivated by concern for the fact that a certain class of shareholders, particularly banks and insurance companies, was vulnerable to pressure by management, making it hard for corporations functioning autonomously to maximize shareholder values. The survey results suggest that shareholder composition may affect the necessity and effectiveness of legal interventions.

Correction to Chapter 1 in: Yahara T. et al. (2021) Decision Science for Future Earth: A Conceptual Framework. In: Yahara T. (eds) Decision Science for Future Earth. Springer, Singapore. 10.1007/978-981-15-8632-3_1

In this chapter, we report the case of a co-design project undertaken in the Shimojin district that was severely damaged by the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes. We, IDS3, and local residents have not only attempted to recover the aforementioned district from the damages it suffered due to the earthquakes but also unite its entire community, which is currently suffering from population decline and aging. To supplement its local agriculture, we initiated the co-design project as a means to promote rice branding by adding value by utilizing the biodiversity in the district and transforming the district’s rice paddy fields into eco-friendly paddy systems. We were involved with the project since the consensus building phase owing to our co-design experience with regard to restoration planning at disaster restoration sites and knowledge about the district. We primarily conducted our research in three fields: (1) design of the recovery plan of eco-friendly paddy fields and agricultural ditches, (2) consensus formation for rice branding, (3) exploration of eco-friendly farming method suitable for the region under study.

Graphical abstract Thinned Irwin mango fruits were collected at the immature stage and lyophilized. Hot-water extract from thinned immature mango (TIMEx) had no toxic effect on SD rats given daily oral doses of 500, 1000 or 2500 mg/kg for 90 days. No significant alterations in hematological and serum chemical parameters, urinalysis, food consumption, body weight gain, or absolute and relative organ weights were noted in any group. In both sexes, a daily dose up to 2500 mg/kg body weight indicates a NOAEL., Highlights • Thinned immature mango fruits are usually handled as waste. • Information is limited about the safety of its daily consumption. • A 90-days toxicity study of its hot-water extract (TIMEx) was conducted in rats. • TIMEx is safe for daily consumption and its NOAEL is 2500 mg/kg/day. • Thinned immature mango fruits will be candidate for functional food., Thinned immature fruit of the mango tree (Mangifera indica ‘Irwin’) are handled as waste. In this study, we conducted a 90-days toxicity study in male and female Sprague Dawley rats to evaluate the safety of a hot-water extract of thinned immature mango fruits (TIMEx) administered by oral gavage at doses of 500, 1000 and 2500 mg/kg body weight/day. Treatment did not result in death or changes in the behavior or external appearance of the animals. No alterations were observed in hematological or serum chemical parameters, urinalysis, food consumption, body weight gain or organ weights at the end of the treatment period, with the exception of higher mean corpuscular volume in male rats that received high doses and lower serum creatine phosphokinase levels in female rats that received medium doses. Under the conditions of this study and based on the toxicological endpoints evaluated, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for TIMEx was 2500 mg/kg/day. The findings indicate that TIMEx is safe for consumption and should be investigated as a candidate food.

Background: Alpha monoglucosyl-rutin (4 G -α-D-glucopyranosyl rutin, αMR) has been shown to stimulate antioxidant defenses and anti-glycation. We evaluated the effects of αMR on body weight gain in mice. Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice were divided into four groups: Control low-fat diet, low-fat diet + 0.5% αMR, high-fat diet, and high-fat diet + 0.5% αMR. Blood chemistry, hepatic lipids, and serum metabolic hormones and cytokines were evaluated after 4 and 13 weeks. Results: After 6 weeks, the high-fat diet group gained more weight than the low-fat diet group. Supplementing the high-fat diet with αMR suppressed weight gain by week 13. Visceral fat weight was higher in the high-fat diet group on weeks 4 and 13, while αMR supplementation inhibited increase on week 13 but not on week 4. Serum levels of gastric inhibitory polypeptide were higher in the high-fat-diet group than in the low-fat-diet group. αMR supplementation inhibited this elevation and regulated levels of serum leptin and hepatic triglycerides. Conclusion: For the first time, we demonstrated how daily consumption of αMR inhibits diet-induced visceral fat accumulation by regulating the secretion of gastric inhibitory polypeptide, which thereby prevents excess weight gain. Therefore, αMR may be a promising potential functional food. Keywords: Anti-obesity; gastric inhibitory polypeptide; mouse; alpha monoglucosyl-rutin; quercetin