From a Chinese drug Gegen, the root of Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi or P. pseudohirsuta Tang et Wang (Leguminosae), several isoflavonoid compounds were isolated. Besides the known compounds, puerarin (1), daidzin (2), daidzein (3), and formononetin (4), the presence of pueraria glycosides (PG) 1-6 and puerarol (9) in the Pueraria root extracts was revealed by TLC and HPLC. The chemical structures of PG-i, 2, 3, and 6 (5-8) as well as puerarol (9) were supported by their spectral data.

An extracellular polysaccharide, AC-1, produced by Acetobacter polysaccharogenes is composed of ␤-(1,4)glucan with branches of glucosyl residues. We found that AC-1 showed a strong activity to induce production of interleukin-12 p40 and tumor necrosis factor-␣ by macrophage cell lines in vitro. Cellulase treatment completely abolished the activity of AC-1 to induce tumor necrosis factor-␣ production by macrophages, whereas treatment of AC-1 with polymyxin B or proteinase did not affect the activity. Results of experiments using Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4-deficient mice and TLR4-transfected human cell line indicated that TLR4 is involved in pattern recognition of AC-1. In vivo administration of AC-1 significantly reduced the serum levels of ovalbumin (OVA)-specific IgE and interleukin-4 production by T cells in response to OVA in mice immunized with OVA. AC-1, a soluble branched ␤-(1,4)glucan may be useful in prevention and treatment of allergic disorders with IgE production.

Levan is an immunostimulatory moiety in products from the fermentation process of B. subtilis (natto) and may be useful for prevention of allergic disorders with IgE production.

The S 1 1 A 2 (nπ*) and S 2 1 A 1 (ππ*) states of xanthone are phosphorescent due to strong coupling with the triplet state. To investigate the mechanism of intersystem crossing, we observed the phosphorescence excitation spectrum of xanthone in a supersonic jet. The S 1 1 A 2 (nπ*) r S 0 transition shows a well-resolved structure with sharp vibronic bands. Prominent bands are assigned to out-of-plane vibrational bands, of which the intensities arise from the vibronic interaction with the S 2 1 A 1 (ππ*) state. The vibronic bands of the S 2 1 A 1 -(ππ*) r S 0 transition are significantly broadened (55 cm -1 ) and the band shape is Lorentzian. It indicates that the intersystem crossing is very fast from the S 2 1 A 1 (ππ*) state. The rate of intersystem crossing from the S 2 1 A 1 (ππ*) state is estimated to be 1.0 × 10 13 s -1 .

The polyvalent staphylococcal bacteriophage U16 failed to adsorb to an encapsulated Staphylococcus simulans strain. Partially purified cell wall and teichoic acid of this strain could, however, inactivate bacteriophage U16 to a great extent, indicating the presence of the phage receptor. It is concluded that the capsule of Staphylococcus simulans acts as a barrier for the interaction of the phage with its receptor in the bacterial cell wall.

Natto is a traditional Japanese food made from soybeans fermented by natto starter strains of Bacillus subtilis natto. It has been suggested that extracellular protease activity released by the bacteria are involved in the production of poly--glutamate ( -PGA) during natto fermentation. One of the natto starters, strain r22, possesses at least seven genes, each of which encoded an extracellular protease orthologous to its counterpart in B. subtilis 168, aprE, bpr, epr, mpr, nprE, vpr, and wprA, but it was found to lack nprB. Inactivating the aprE ortholog alone resulted in a severe decrease in -PGA production and in the total extracellular protease activity. The defect in -PGA production of the mutant lacking the aprE ortholog was complemented when the medium was supplemented with sufficient glutamate. These results suggest that the alkaline serine protease encoded by aprE plays an indispensable role in supplying materials to produce -PGA. On the other hand, simultaneous inactivation of all the protease genes except for aprE did not significantly affect either -PGA production or total protease activity.

Summary. The clinical outcome of childhood aplastic anaemia (AA) with aberrant cytogenetic clones at diagnosis was surveyed. Among 198 children with newly diagnosed AA registered with the AA Committee of the Japanese Society of Paediatric Hematology between 1994 and 1998, cytogenetic studies of bone marrow (BM) cells were completed in 159 patients. Apart from one Robertsonian translocation, seven patients (4AE4%) showed clonal chromosomal abnormalities in hypoplastic BM without myelodysplastic features. The patients included six girls and one boy with a median age of 11 years (range 5-14 years). Six patients had del(6), del(5), del(13), del(20), or )7, and one showed add(9). Four patients responded to the first immunosuppressive therapy (IST: cyclosporin A plus antithymocyte globulin) and one obtained a spontaneous remission. Cytogenetic abnormalities remained in two patients with an IST response. On the other hand, two patients showed no IST response. One did not respond to repeat IST and died of acute graft-versus-host disease after an unrelated-BM transplant. Another obtained a complete response after a successful BM transplant. No haematological findings at diagnosis predicted the treatment response. No significant morphological changes developed during the course of the illness. A literature review revealed that half of 24 AA patients with chromosomal abnormalities responded to the first IST, and that +6 was the sole predictable marker for IST unresponsiveness. These results suggest that IST can be applied as the initial therapy for AA with cytogenetic abnormalities in the absence of completely matched donors.

We previously found that an extracellular polysaccharide, AC-1, produced by Acetobacter polysaccharogenes composed of (1,4)-b-D-glucan with branches of glucosyl residues showed a strong activity to induce production of interleukin (IL)-12 p40 and tumor necrosis factor-a by macrophage cell lines in vitro via Tolllike receptor-4 signaling. In the present study, we examined the effects of oral administration of AC-1 on protection against 2 types of murine B16 melanoma lines, major histocompatibility complex (