Sufficient water intake maintains the gut microbiota and immune homeostasis and promotes pathogen elimination.

Water is the most abundant substance in the human body and plays a pivotal role in various bodily functions. While underhydration is associated with the incidence of certain diseases, the specific role of water in gut function remains largely unexplored. Here, we show that water restriction disrupts gut homeostasis, which is accompanied by a bloom of gut microbes and decreased numbers of immune cells, especially Th17 cells, within the colon. These microbial and immunological changes in the gut are associated with an impaired ability to eliminate the enteric pathogen Citrobacter rodentium. Moreover, aquaporin 3, a water channel protein, is required for the maintenance of Th17 cell function and differentiation. Taken together, adequate water intake is critical for maintaining bacterial and immunological homeostasis in the gut, thereby enhancing host defenses against enteric pathogens.

Determining Optimal Intervals for In-Person Visits During Video-Based Telemedicine Among Patients With Hypertension: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Introducing telemedicine in outpatient treatment may improve patient satisfaction and convenience. However, the optimal in-person visit interval for video-based telemedicine among patients with hypertension remains unreported in Japan. OBJECTIVE: We determined the optimal in-person visit interval for video-based telemedicine among patients with hypertension. METHODS: This was a cluster randomized controlled noninferiority trial. The target sites were 8 clinics in Japan that had a telemedicine system, and the target patients were individuals with essential hypertension. Among patients receiving video-based telemedicine, those who underwent in-person visits at 6-month intervals were included in the intervention group, and those who underwent in-person visits at 3-month intervals were included in the control group. The follow-up period of the participants was 6 months. The primary end point of the study was the change in systolic blood pressure, and the secondary end points were the rate of treatment continuation after 6 months, patient satisfaction, health economic evaluation, and safety evaluation. RESULTS: Overall, 64 patients were enrolled. Their mean age was 54.5 (SD 10.3) years, and 60.9% (39/64) of patients were male. For the primary end point, the odds ratio for the estimated difference in the change in systolic blood pressure between the 2 groups was 1.18 (90% CI -3.68 to 6.04). Notably, the criteria for noninferiority were met. Patient satisfaction was higher in the intervention group than in the control group. Furthermore, the indirect costs indicated that lost productivity was significantly lesser in the intervention group than in the control group. Moreover, the treatment continuation rate did not differ between the intervention and control groups, and there were no adverse events in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Blood pressure control status and safety did not differ between the intervention and control groups. In-person visits at 6-month intervals may cause a societal cost reduction and improve patient satisfaction during video-based telemedicine. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR) UMIN000040953; https://tinyurl.com/2p8devm9.

A cross-sectional survey on principal investigators' clinical research knowledge in Japan.

Principal investigators (PIs) play a key role in clinical research, and must thus understand the role of clinical research support staff to conduct successful and appropriate clinical research. This study evaluates clinical research capabilities by examining the clinical research knowledge of PIs and clinical research support staff. The participants of this cross-sectional study were academic researchers and clinical research support staff from Japanese universities and research institutions. The participants comprised of 54 respondents, among whom 36 were PIs (physicians) and 18 were clinical research support staff. A self-administered electronic survey was created and evaluated by experts, with 50 knowledge items. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to determine the significance of the differences in knowledge between clinical research support staff and PIs. We compared the correct answer rate of clinical research support staff and PIs for each knowledge category and observed that the clinical research support staff scored significantly higher than the PIs in all aspects of clinical research knowledge sections, including total score. Our findings showed that PIs did not have the same amount of clinical research knowledge as the clinical research support staff. Clinical research knowledge is essential for investigators, especially PIs, to protect patients and promote medical breakthroughs. Thus, more accessible clinical research education and mandatory knowledge testing will allow PIs to lead successful clinical research and further the level of medical research in Japan.

Asymmetric Cycloadditions of Acyclic Carbonyl Ylides with Aldehydes Catalyzed by a Chiral Binaphthyldiimine-Ni(II) Complex: Enantioselective Synthesis of 1,3-Dioxolanes and Mechanistic Studies by DFT Calculations.

Chiral binaphthyldiimine-Ni(II)-catalyzed asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions between acyclic carbonyl ylides generated from donor-acceptor oxiranes and aldehydes are reported. Both aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes could be used as dipolarophiles, providing cis-1,3-dioxolanes with high diastereo- and enantioselectivities. On the basis of mechanistic studies, a monomeric chiral Ni(II) complex was hypothesized to act as the active species for the cycloaddition. The high levels of asymmetric induction are satisfactorily explained by a concerted-asynchronous endo Si-face approach of the aldehyde.

Red light-regulated interaction of Per-Arnt-Sim histidine kinases with partner histidine-containing phosphotransfer proteins in Physcomitrium patens.

Multi-step phosphorelay (MSP) is a broadly distributed signaling system in organisms. In MSP, histidine kinases (HKs) receive various environmental signals and transmit them by autophosphorylation followed by phosphotransfer to partner histidine-containing phosphotransfer proteins (HPts). Previously, we reported that Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain-containing HK1 (PHK1) and PHK2 of the moss Physcomitrium (Physcomitrella) patens repressed red light-induced protonema branching, a critical step in the moss life cycle. In plants, PHK homolog-encoding genes are conserved only in early-diverging lineages such as bryophytes and lycophytes. PHKs-mediated signaling machineries attract attention especially from an evolutionary viewpoint, but they remain uninvestigated. Here, we studied the P. patens PHKs focusing on their subcellular patterns of localization and interaction with HPts. Yeast two-hybrid analysis, a localization assay with a green fluorescent protein, and a bimolecular fluorescence complementation analysis together showed that PHKs are localized and interact with partner HPts mostly in the nucleus, as unprecedented features for plant HKs. Additionally, red light triggered the interactions between PHKs and HPts in the cytoplasm, and light co-repressed the expression of PHK1 and PHK2 as well as genes encoding their partner HPts. Our results emphasize the uniqueness of PHKs-mediated signaling machineries, and functional implications of this uniqueness are discussed.

Complete Genome Sequence of Halomonas hydrothermalis Strain Slthf2, a Halophilic Bacterium Isolated from a Deep-Sea Hydrothermal-Vent Environment.

Halomonas hydrothermalis strain Slthf2 is a Gram-negative bacterium isolated from low-temperature hydrothermal fluids in South Pacific Ocean vent fields located at 2,580-m depth. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of this strain, which has a genome size of 4.12 Mb, with a GC content of 53.2%.

Breeding and characterization of the high cadmium-accumulating rice line 'Akita 119'.

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal that is mainly accumulated through the consumption of foods produced in Cd-contaminated fields. Phytoremediation is one of the most effective methods to reduce the soil Cd concentration. In this study, we bred a new rice line, 'Akita 119', for Cd phytoremediation. 'Akita 119' was obtained by a soft X-ray mutation of 'Cho-ko-koku', a naturally high-Cd-accumulating rice cultivar. The heading date of 'Akita 119' was about 2 weeks later than that of 'Akitakomachi', which is the leading cultivar in Akita Prefecture, Japan. 'Akita 119' has a short culm length and many panicles. The shattering resistance and lodging resistance of 'Akita 119' were improved compared to 'Cho-ko-koku'. The thousand-grain weight of 'Akita 119' was much smaller than that of 'Akitakomachi', and grains of 'Akita 119' could be easily distinguished from general japonica cultivars. When 'Akita 119' was grown in Cd-contaminated fields, the shoot dry weight and Cd concentration were similar to those of 'Cho-ko-koku'. These results demonstrate that 'Akita 119' has improved agronomic characteristics compared to 'Cho-ko-koku' while retaining the ability to extract Cd. Therefore, it should be considered a promising candidate for Cd phytoremediation in paddy fields in northern parts of Japan.

Light-regulated PAS-containing histidine kinases delay gametophore formation in the moss Physcomitrella patens.

Two-component systems (TCSs) are signal transduction mechanisms for responding to various environmental stimuli. In angiosperms, TCSs involved in phytohormone signaling have been intensively studied, whereas there are only a few reports on TCSs in basal land plants. The moss Physcomitrella patens possesses several histidine kinases (HKs) that are lacking in seed plant genomes. Here, we studied two of these unique HKs, PAS-histidine kinase 1 (PHK1) and its paralog PHK2, both of which have PAS (Per-Arnt-Sim) domains, which are known to show versatile functions such as sensing light or molecular oxygen. We found homologs of PHK1 and PHK2 only in early diverged clades such as bryophytes and lycophytes, but not in seed plants. The PAS sequences of PHK1 and PHK2 are more similar to a subset of bacterial PAS sequences than to any angiosperm PAS sequences. Gene disruption lines that lack either PHK1 or PHK2 or both formed gametophores earlier than the wild-type, and consistently, more caulonema side branches were induced in response to light in the disruption lines. Therefore, PHK1 and PHK2 delay the timing of gametophore development, probably by suppressing light-induced caulonema branching. This study provides new insights into the evolution of TCSs in plants.

Construction of a soft wearable body cooling system for persons with spinal cord injury.

This paper describes the construction of a body cooling system to avoid heatstroke for survivors of cervical spinal cord injury. For accomplishment of this purpose, we chose the neck as a cooling point of the body, and we constructed a prototype neck cooling head with a refrigerated circulator. The neck cooling head was made by thin heat-welding thermoplastic films with high thermal conductivity. To test our proposed system, we conducted experiments on two unimpaired participants in a room which simulated a hot summer day (33 [°C], relative humidity 40%). Reduction of sweating were observed, and the average skin temperatures and the core temperature of the head with cooling increased more slowly than those without cooling. The estimated cooling power of the proposed system was about 10 [W] with 50 [W] total power consumption of the cooling head.

[Septic shock due to fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli after trans-rectal prostate needle biopsy].

A 64-year-old man took levofloxacin 100 mg three times a day from the day before trans-rectal prostate needle biopsy. He suddenly fell into septic shock about 12 hours after the biopsy. We performed polymyxin B-immobilized fiber-direct hemoperfusion treatment at our intensive care unit. The circle dynamics was stable after five days of observation, and he was discharged seven days after the event. Levofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) was detected by blood and urine culture.