Kyoto Seika University

Kakadu plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana) reportedly has the highest ascorbic acid levels of all plants worldwide and its juice reactivates functions of the retinoblastoma gene (RB) product, a tumor suppressor gene. In this study, the juice of the Kakadu plum was fractionated to identify the constituent active compounds. A novel ellagitannin, named terminalagin, was isolated from Kakadu plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana) juice via bioassay-guided isolation. The structure was determined using spectroscopic analysis and partial hydrolysis. Terminalagin has a corilagin substructure and a 2,4-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl (HHDP) ester moiety that is not usually found in natural products. The results of this study enrich the structural database of ellagitannins and should provide invaluable aid for their further utilization in cancer prevention.

Given the frequent conflict between parents and adolescents with eating disorders, we aimed to develop a remote family education and support program (rFESP) for parents based on the principles of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) and investigate its effect on promoting effective communication at home. A clinical trial involving 67 parents of patients with adolescent eating disorders was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to either the rFESP intervention group or the waiting control group. The intervention group received four rFESP sessions of 150 min each, conducted weekly over 4 weeks. Specifically, the primary outcome was the change in parents' active listening ability, as measured by the Active Listening Attitude Scale, while the secondary outcome was the change in the perception of social support and eating disorder symptoms evaluated by parents. Intention-to-treat analyses were conducted. A statistically significant effect of rFESP was found on the Active Listening Attitude Scale at 8 weeks (mean difference: 3.68, 95% confidence interval: 1.89-5.48, p < 0.001). Similarly, the intervention group scored higher with regard to perceived social support (difference = 2.69, 95% confidence interval: 1.11-4.27, p < 0.001). No significant differences were found in eating disorder symptoms. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effectiveness of an IPT-based program for parents of adolescents with eating disorders. These findings suggest that this type of intervention is effective, albeit indirect, and could be a new support method for adolescent patients and their parents. Clinical Trials.gov ID: NCT05840614.

Floral morphology is a crucial trait that determines the commercial value of ornamental plants and pollinator preference. Scaevola aemula (Fan Flower) typically develops bilaterally symmetrical flowers, but a recessive mutant with a radially symmetrical flower (peloric) has been isolated from a breeding population. In the present study, we explored the molecular basis of the floral traits of S. aemula. We found a genetic-phenotypic association for the CYCLOIDEA (CYC) gene SaCYC2, which is known as a regulatory gene for floral symmetry in various plants. The peloric flower line had a nonsense mutation immediately downstream of the start codon of SaCYC2 causing a loss of function. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed three paralogous CYC genes in S. aemula, but only SaCYC2 was preferentially expressed in the dorsal side of the petals. Moreover, we developed a co-dominant cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) marker based on the nonsense mutation to verify floral traits, thereby accelerating the selection and breeding of Scaevola spp. Our findings support the conserved function of CYC genes that determine aspects of floral morphology in Asteraceae.

A 40 cm length Bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE) membrane having different pore sizes was successfully prepared by changing the number of coating times for gas permeation (GP) and organic solvent reverse osmosis (OSRO) separation study. It was found that BTESE-6 membranes prepared through six-time coating consisted of small-sized pores in the range 0.56 to 0.64 nm estimated using modified Gas Translation (mGT) method and 0.59 to 0.67 nm estimated by nanopermporometry (NPP) method, respectively. These membranes demonstrated a high DMF rejection, RDMF > 95% with total flux, Jv total > 5 kg m−2 h−1 at operating condition feed pressure, Pf: 8 MPa; feed temperature, Tf: 50 °C; and feed flowrate, Qf: 30 mL/min; and they exhibited a high degree selectivity of He/SF6 in the range of ~ 260–3400 at a permeation temperature 200 °C. On the other hand, the larger pore sizes of the BTESE-4 membranes (pore size estimates > 0.76 nm to 1.02 nm) exhibited low DMF rejection and a low degree selectivity of He/SF6 around ~30% and 25, respectively, at the same operating condition as BTESE-6. Both GT and NPP methods can be considered as an indicator of the measurement membrane pore size. From this study, it was found that He and SF6 gases can be some of the potential predictors for water and DMF permeance. Furthermore, by comparing our OSRO membrane with other PV membranes for DMF/H2O separation, our BTESE-6 membranes still exhibited high flux in the range of 3–6 kg m−2 h−1 with a separation factor H2O/DMF in the range of 80–120.

Microorganisms in our living environment may affect human health. Microbial suppression by air cleaners and disinfecting agents may provide protection from pathogenic materials. However, excessive microbial suppression can negatively affect human health; thus, an appropriate level of microbiome control is beneficial. It is not well understood how physical environmental conditions, such as temperature and relative humidity, and human lifestyles and behaviors affect indoor microorganisms. To understand the relationship between physical environmental conditions and microbial communities in the human living environment, we measured temperature and relative humidity and collected microbial samples in modern and traditional Japanese houses. In this study, bacteria and fungi were the target microorganisms. In both houses, the DNA concentration of microorganisms on floor surfaces was high when the average relative humidity of the room was high. The same tendency was observed for the beam and pillar surfaces in the traditional house. Although more careful consideration is needed for some indoor surfaces, such as storage ceilings and air conditioner outlets, seasonal changes in relative humidity and DNA concentrations of microorganisms on indoor surfaces exhibit some correlation.

PurposeAs China attracts more and more foreign enterprises today, it is getting more important to consider how to enhance the organizational commitment (OC) of host country employees. This paper aims to examine the differences in the relationship between OC and rewards among Chinese managers and Japanese expatriates who work for Japanese manufacturing companies in China.Design/methodology/approachHierarchical regression analysis was used to analyze survey data gathered from 539 Chinese managers and 354 Japanese expatriates working for a total of 19 Japanese manufacturing companies in China.FindingsThe findings reveal that, for Chinese managers, role clarity had a stronger influence and autonomy had a weaker influence on OC than for Japanese expatriates. A possible reason is the ethnocentric culture of Japanese companies that leads to Japanese expatriates not sufficiently empowering local human resources. Moreover, there was no difference between senior- and junior-level Chinese managers in the association of any kind of reward with OC.Research limitations/implicationsThe most significant limitation concerns its generalizability. The authors recommend that future research use other nations' expatriates as reference groups to objectively clarify the characteristics of Chinese workers, thus testing the validity of this research.Practical implicationsThe results of this research may be used to reshape future human-resource-management practices in several types of the company located in China to facilitate attracting and employing the employees most able to make long-term contributions to the company.Originality/valueAlthough previous research has elucidated OC–rewards relation in particular countries, it has not met the potential requirements of the expatriates who face the difference in OC–rewards relation with host country national managers. In this sense, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research was the first attempt to tackle this theme by contributing to the literature.

Abstract Phylogeography is an integrative field of science linking micro- and macro-evolutionary processes, contributing to the inference of vicariance, dispersal, speciation, and other population-level processes. Phylogeographic surveys usually require considerable effort and time to obtain numerous samples from many geographical sites covering the distribution range of target species; this associated high cost limits their application. Recently, environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has been useful not only for detecting species but also for assessing genetic diversity; hence, there has been growing interest in its application to phylogeography. As the first step of eDNA-based phylogeography, we examined (1) data screening procedures suitable for phylogeography and (2) whether the results obtained from eDNA analysis accurately reflect known phylogeographic patterns. For these purposes, we performed quantitative eDNA metabarcoding using group-specific primer sets in five freshwater fish species belonging to two taxonomic groups from a total of 94 water samples collected from western Japan. As a result, three-step data screening based on the DNA copy number of each haplotype detected successfully eliminated suspected false positive haplotypes. Furthermore, eDNA analysis could almost perfectly reconstruct the phylogenetic and phylogeographic patterns obtained for all target species with the conventional method. Despite existing limitations and future challenges, eDNA-based phylogeography can significantly reduce survey time and effort and is applicable for simultaneous analysis of multiple species in single water samples. eDNA-based phylogeography has the potential to revolutionise phylogeography.