No abstract

The probiotic LG2055 showed lowering effects on abdominal adiposity, body weight and other measures, suggesting its beneficial influence on metabolic disorders.

n-Butanol is an important industrial chemical usually produced by the oxo process, an expensive, energyconsuming set of reactions over metal catalysts, using petrochemical raw materials at high pressure. We developed nonstoichiometric hydroxyapatite (HAP), a highly active calcium phosphate compound and found it catalyzed selective conversion of ethanol to n-butanol in a single reaction at atmospheric pressure and low temperature, with maximum selectivity of 76%. Higher alcohols were also formed. We postulate that ethanol is adsorbed and activated on HAP as CH 3 CH 2 OH(a) and that a C-C bond was formed between β-C in the CH 3 CH 2 OH(a) and R-C in n-C n H 2n+1 OH to produce n-C n H 2n+1 CH 2 CH 2 OH. We further postulate that, by successive propagation, part of this n-C n H 2n+1 CH 2 CH 2 OH is then adsorbed and activated on HAP as n-C n H 2n+1 CH 2 CH 2 OH(a) and that C-C bond was formed between β-C in the n-C n H 2n+1 CHCH 2 OH(a) and R-C in n-alcohol to produce branched alcohols. Reaction simulation supported this hypothesis, suggesting that efficient, environmentally friendly production of n-butanol might be possible in future using bioethanol as raw material.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a well known factor that induces angiogenesis. Four isoforms, i.e. VEGF206, 189, 165, and 121, have been identified. We examined the isoform patterns of VEGF mRNA using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis in 61 colon cancers. All the colon cancers examined expressed VEGF121. The isoform patterns were classified into three groups: type 1, VEGF121; type 2, VEGF121 + VEGF165; type 3, VEGF121 + VEGF165 + VEGF189. Three of the 61 colon cancers examined showed type 1 expression, 26 showed type 2 expression and 32 showed the type 3 pattern. The patients with liver metastases showed the type 3 isoform expression pattern at a significantly higher incidence (12 of 16, 75%) than those without liver metastasis (20 of 45, 44%) (P=0.036). The type 3 isoform pattern was significantly associated with M1 stage (P=0.019). The patients with colon cancer and the type 3 isoform pattern showed significantly poor prognosis (P < 0.01, Cox-Mantel). The colon cancers with the type 3 pattern showed a significantly higher involvement of veins (P=0.006). These observations suggest that the aberrant type 3 expression pattern of VEGF189 mRNA isoforms is correlated with liver metastasis, M stage, and poor prognosis in colon cancer. Images Figure 2 Figure 3

Consumption of fermented milk (FM) containing a probiotic, Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055 (LG2055), previously showed a reduction in abdominal adiposity in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) using FM with 10 8 colony-forming units (cfu) of LG2055/g. However, whether the effectiveness is observed at lower concentrations, the recommended minimum or intermediate levels of probiotics (10 6 or 10 7 cfu/g, respectively), remains to be examined. A multi-centre, double-blind, parallel-group RCT was conducted using 210 healthy Japanese adults with large visceral fat areas (80·2 -187·8 cm 2 ). They were balanced for their baseline characteristics and randomly assigned to three groups receiving FM containing 10 7 , 10 6 or 0 (control) cfu LG2055/g of FM, and were asked to consume 200 g FM/d for 12 weeks. Abdominal visceral fat areas, which were determined by computed tomography, at week 12, changed from baseline by an average of 28·5 % (95 % CI 211·9, 2 5·1; P,0·01) in the 10 7 dose group, and by 2 8·2 % (95 % CI 210·8, 2 5·7; P, 0·01) in the 10 6 dose group. Other measures including BMI, waist and hip circumferences, and body fat mass were also significantly decreased from baseline at week 12 in both groups; interestingly, the cessation of taking FM for 4 weeks attenuated these effects. In the control group, none of these parameters significantly decreased from baseline. These findings demonstrate that consumption of LG2055 at doses as low as the order of 10 8 cfu/d exhibited a significant lowering effect on abdominal adiposity, and suggest that constant consumption might be needed to maintain the effect.

No abstract

Plant-derived, dehydrated ethanol was effectively converted to biogasoline in a one-step process on a highly active nonstoichiometric hydroxyapatite (HAP) catalyst. The biogasoline had a research octane number of 99 and comprised chiefly hydrocarbons from C6 to C10 as well as oxygenates not generated in the methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) process using zeolite. To confirm a proposed scheme for the synthesis of gasoline from ethanol over HAP, alcohol conversions were carried out using paired combinations of five different alcohols with ethanol. Results indicated that:  (1) normal and branched alcohols were obtained by the Guerbet reaction from normal alcohols, (2) dienes were synthesized by the Lebedev reaction, and (3) aldehydes and olefins were mainly synthesized by dehydrogenation and dehydration of branched alcohols respectively.

Summary Two subtypes of thrombospondin (TSP-1 and TSP-2) have inhibitory roles in angiogenesis in vitro, although the biological significance of these TSP isoforms has not been determined in vivo. We examined TSP-1 and TSP-2 gene expression by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis in 61 colon cancers. Thirty-eight of these 61 colon cancers were positive for TSP-2 expression and showed hepatic metastasis at a significantly lower incidence than those without TSP-2 expression (P = 0.02). TSP-2 expression was significantly associated with M0 stage in these colon cancers (P = 0.03), whereas TSP-1 expression showed no apparent correlation with these factors. The colon cancer patients with TSP-2 expression showed a significantly low frequency of liver metastasis correlated with the cell-associated isoform of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-189) (P = 0.0006). Vascularity was estimated by CD34 staining, and TSP-2(-)/VEGF-189(+) colon cancers showed significantly increased vessel counts and density in the stroma (P < 0.0001). TSP-2(-)/VEGF-189(+) colon cancer patients also showed significantly poorer prognosis compared with those with TSP-2(+) / VEGF-189(-) (P = 0.0014). These results suggest that colon cancer metastasis is critically determined by angiogenesis resulting from the balance between the angioinhibitory factor TSP-2 and angiogenic factor VEGF-189.