Degradative Effect of Nattokinase on Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged as a pandemic and has inflicted enormous damage on the lives of the people and economy of many countries worldwide. However, therapeutic agents against SARS-CoV-2 remain unclear. SARS-CoV-2 has a spike protein (S protein), and cleavage of the S protein is essential for viral entry. Nattokinase is produced by Bacillus subtilis var. natto and is beneficial to human health. In this study, we examined the effect of nattokinase on the S protein of SARS-CoV-2. When cell lysates transfected with S protein were incubated with nattokinase, the S protein was degraded in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that S protein on the cell surface was degraded when nattokinase was added to the culture medium. Thus, our findings suggest that nattokinase exhibits potential for the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 infection via S protein degradation.     

Super High Throughput Screening (SHTS) of Chiral Ligands and Activators: Asymmetric Activation of Chiral Diol–Zinc Catalysts by Chiral Nitrogen Activators for the Enantioselective Addition of Diethylzinc to Aldehydes

The most effective catalyst system for the enantioselective alkylation of an aldehyde on the basis of “asymmetric activation” can be found by super high throughput screening of chiral ligands (L*) and activators (A*) for the diethylzinc complex. The product, an optically active alcohol, could be obtained with 99% ee and in up to 100% yield (see reaction scheme). R=benzylidene.     

Effect of Electrical Muscle Stimulation on Vascular Endothelial Function during Prolonged Sitting

Objective: While prolonged sedentary behaviors (SBs) increase cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, interrupting prolonged sitting (PS) with frequent light exercise reduces arterial functional decline. Skeletal muscle electrical stimulation (EMS) enhances peripheral circulation through passive muscle contraction, suggesting that EMS reduces CVD risk by providing an alternative to active exercise for prolonged SBs. This study aimed to investigate the effects of EMS to skeletal muscles during PS on the endothelial function of the brachial artery (BA). Methods: Study participants included 12 healthy adult men who were subjected to 15 min of supine rest, followed by 1 h of PS only (control [CON] trial), or 20 min of EMS to the lower extremities at 50% of the maximum tolerance intensity during PS (EMS trial). Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the BA was measured before and 30 min after PS, and normalized FMD (nFMD) was calculated. Results: The nFMD of the CON trial significantly decreased 30 min after PS completion (6.21% ± 1.13%) compared with that before PS (7.26% ± 0.73%), and there was no significant change in the EMS trial before and after PS. The EMS trial showed a significant increase in the nFMD 30 min after PS completion (1.14 ± 0.77) compared with that before PS (0.84 ± 0.43). However, no significant difference was observed in the CON trials. Conclusion: Passive contraction of the lower extremity muscles by EMS increases BA nFMD, suggesting that prolonged sedentary lower extremity EMS use may reduce the risk of vascular endothelial dysfunction.     

Long-time Behavior of Solutions of Hamilton–Jacobi Equations with Convex and Coercive Hamiltonians

We investigate the long-time behavior of viscosity solutions of Hamilton–Jacobi equations in \mathbbRⁿ{\mathbb{R}^n} with convex and coercive Hamiltonians and give three general criteria for the convergence of solutions to asymptotic solutions as time goes to infinity. We apply the criteria to obtain more specific sufficient conditions for the convergence to asymptotic solutions and then examine them with examples. We take a dynamical approach, based on tools from weak KAM theory such as extremal curves, Aubry sets and representation formulas for solutions, for these investigations.     

A Characterization of the Existence of Solutions for Hamilton—Jacobi Equations in Ergodic Control Problems with Applications

We give a characterization of the existence of bounded solutions for Hamilton—Jacobi equations in ergodic control problems with state-constraint. This result is applied to the reexamination of the counterexample given in [5] concerning the existence of solutions for ergodic control problems in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces and also establishing results on effective Hamiltonians in periodic homogenization of Hamilton—Jacobi equations. Accepted 1 December 1999     

Efficient visible/NIR light-driven uncaging of hydroxylated thiazole orange-based caged compounds in aqueous media

In photoactivation strategies with bioactive molecules, one-photon visible or two-photon near-infrared light-sensitive caged compounds are desirable tools for biological applications because they offer reduced phototoxicity and deep tissue penetration. However, visible-light-sensitive photoremovable protecting groups (PPGs) reported so far have displayed high hydrophobicity and low uncaging cross sections (εΦ < 50) in aqueous media, which can obstruct the control of bioactivity with high spatial and temporal precision. In this study, we developed hydroxylated thiazole orange (HTO) derivatives as visible-light-sensitive PPGs with high uncaging cross sections (εΦ ≈ 370) in aqueous solution. In addition, 2PE photolysis reactions of HTO-caged glutamate were achieved using a NIR laser (940 nm). Moreover, HTO-caged glutamate can activate N-methyl-d-aspartic acid receptors in Xenopus oocytes and mammalian cells with green-light illumination, thus allowing optical control of biological functions.

A hydroxylated thiazole orange (HTO)-caged glutamate efficiently releases a glutamate for temporal activation of ion channels under visible-to-NIR light in aqueous media.     

Vanadin

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