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We aimed to evaluate the relationship between hearing ability and cognitive domains and determine how the relationship changes after 6 months of introducing a hearing aid.We conducted a 6-month hearing aid lending study between September 2014 and March 2019, including 59 older participants who visited the Memory Clinic at the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. The hearing level was assessed using pure tone audiometry. Speech intelligibility was measured using the monosyllabic word discrimination score. We assessed the relationship between hearing ability and cognitive domains using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) total score and four subscale scores (orientation, memory, attention, and language). Differences in the cognitive function between baseline (pre-) and 6 months later (post-) after introducing a hearing aid were also assessed.The pre-orientation score was significantly associated with the pure-tone average (p = 0.013), and the pre-language score was significantly associated with speech intelligibility (p = 0.006) after adjusting for confounders. None of the MMSE subscale scores were significantly different between pre- and post-scores, however, an expectation of improvement with continuous hearing aid use was implied in the attention domain.We found a significant association between hearing ability and cognitive domains in individuals whose cognitive functions were not considered healthy. The presence of a potential relationship between cognitive domains, hearing ability, and auditory compensation is suggested.

Fucoidans are hetero-sulfated polysaccharides that are widely distributed in brown algae and have been extensively studied for their various biological activities. The structure-function relationship of fucoidans remains unclear but can be studied using fucoidan-degrading enzymes (fucoidanases). Here, we isolated and identified Flavobacterium sp. SW as a microbial strain that can grow on fucoidan from Cladosiphon okamuranus as the sole carbon source. Genomic analysis of this strain revealed the presence of two genes, swfct and swfcn2, that are homologous to fct114 from Luteolibacter algae H18 and fcnA from Psychromonas sp. SW5A, respectively. The gene products were produced in Escherichia coli and showed significantly different specificities for fucoidan. Swfct catalyzed the degradation of deacetylated fucoidan from C. okamuranus, and Swfcn2 degraded fucoidans from Saccharina sculpera and Macrocystis pyrifera. The general properties of Swfct were examined by measuring the amounts of reducing ends produced by the enzymatic reaction, and the enzyme properties of Swfcn2 were evaluated by carbohydrate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Our findings indicate that one microbial strain can harbor genes encoding two different types of fucoidanases.

Geobacillus thermodenitrificans K1041 is an unusual thermophile that is highly transformable via electroporation, making it a promising host for screening genetic libraries at elevated temperatures. In this study, we determined its biological properties, draft genome sequence, and effective vectors and also optimized the electroporation procedures in an effort to enhance its utilization. The organism exhibited swarming motility but not detectable endospore formation, and growth was rapid at 60°C under neutral and relatively low-salt conditions. Although the cells showed negligible acceptance of shuttle plasmids from general strains of Escherichia coli, methylation-controlled plasmids from dam mutant strains were efficiently accepted, suggesting circumvention of a restriction-modification system in G. thermodenitrificans K1041. We optimized the electroporation procedure to achieve efficiencies of 10(3) to 10(5) CFU/μg for five types of plasmids, which exhibited the different copy numbers and segregational stabilities in G. thermodenitrificans K1041. Some sets of plasmids were compatible. Moreover, we observed substantial plasmid-directed production of heterologous proteins in the intracellular or extracellular environments. Our successful construction of a library of promoter mutants using K1041 cells as hosts and subsequent screening at elevated temperatures to identify improved promoters revealed that G. thermodenitrificans K1041 was practical as a library host. The draft genomic sequence of the organism contained 3,384 coding genes, including resA and mcrB genes, which are involved in restriction-modification systems. Further examination revealed that in-frame deletions of resA increased transformation efficiencies, but mcrB deletion had no effect. The ΔresA mutant exhibited transformation efficiencies of >10(5) CFU/μg for some plasmids. IMPORTANCE Geobacillus thermodenitrificans K1041 has yet to be fully characterized. Although it is transformable via electroporation, it rarely accepts Escherichia coli-derived plasmids. This study clarified the biological and genomic properties of G. thermodenitrificans K1041. Additionally, we developed an electroporation procedure resulting in efficient acceptance of E. coli-derived plasmids. This procedure produced transformants using small amounts of plasmids immediately after the ligation reaction. Thus, G. thermodenitrificans K1041 was identified as a host for screening promoter mutants at elevated temperatures. Furthermore, because this strain efficiently produced heterologous proteins, it could serve as a host for screening thermostable proteins encoded in random mutant libraries or metagenomes. We also generated a ΔresA mutant that exhibited transformation efficiencies of >10(5) CFU/μg, which were highest in cases of electroporation-based transformation of Geobacillus spp. with E. coli-derived plasmids. Our findings provide a new platform for screening diverse genetic libraries at elevated temperatures.

Olfactory impairment is associated with cognitive impairment. However, differences between subjective and objective olfactory impairment measurements in older adults and their relationship with cognitive impairment are unclear.We assessed the relationship between cognitive and olfactory impairments via a single-center observational study in 2020. Forty-seven individuals who visited our memory clinic were enrolled and asked to complete objective and subjective olfactory tests. Participants had dementia, mild cognitive impairment, or normal cognition. We administered the Open Essence (a simple card-type odor identification test) and self-administered odor questionnaire to assess objective and subjective olfaction, respectively, and the Mini-Mental State Examination to assess cognitive function.Older age was related to decreased Open Essence scores (P 0.001). Compared with the mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition groups, the dementia group had significantly lower Open Essence scores (P 0.001). Cognitive impairment was also associated with decreased Open Essence scores after adjusting for age, sex, and education (P 0.001). Participants with dementia did not obtain lower self-administered odor questionnaire scores than those with normal cognition, and they tended to be unaware of their olfactory impairment.Open Essence scores significantly decreased according to the degree of cognitive impairment. Participants with dementia were unaware of their olfactory impairment, as indicated by odor questionnaire scores. Objective and subjective scores of olfaction differed in participants with dementia. Concomitant assessment of objective and subjective olfaction is useful to screen older adults with both olfactory and cognitive impairments. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 924-929.

The bio-logging technique is extensively used in the fields of ecology and ethology, wherein a data logger, such as a sensor or camera, is attached to the target animal’s body to collect the required data. In this method, the efficiency of recovery of the data logger is not ideal. In this study, we proposed a new recovery method, with the aim of addressing the aforementioned problem in bio-logging. The authors previously fabricated a data-logger separator, which weighed approximately 10 g, and was targeted at small seabirds. Because there were some problems associated with the circuit board and the separation performance of this device, we modified the device to overcome the previous drawbacks. We fabricated a flexible printed circuit to improve the operation of the mounted actuator and wireless microcomputer, and improve the efficiency of the fabrication process. We conducted an experiment to determine the proper length and position at which the actuator is attached, in order to achieve a stable motion. We thus fabricated a new prototype with these improvements and performed an operational test at low temperatures from a particular distance, simulating actual usage in a natural environment. The results demonstrated that separation occurred without failure, thus indicating that the separator can be efficiently used in practical environment.

Obesity and aging are known to affect the skeletal muscles. Obesity in old age may result in a poor basement membrane (BM) construction response, which serves to protect the skeletal muscle, thus making the skeletal muscle more vulnerable. In this study, older and young male C57BL/6J mice were divided into two groups, each fed a high-fat or regular diet for eight weeks. A high-fat diet decreased the relative gastrocnemius muscle weight in both age groups, and obesity and aging individually result in a decline in muscle function. Immunoreactivity of collagen IV, the main component of BM, BM width, and BM-synthetic factor expression in young mice on a high-fat diet were higher than that in young mice on a regular diet, whereas such changes were minimal in obese older mice. Furthermore, the number of central nuclei fibers in obese older mice was higher than in old mice fed a regular diet and young mice fed a high-fat diet. These results suggest that obesity at a young age promotes skeletal muscle BM formation in response to weight gain. In contrast, this response is less pronounced in old age, suggesting that obesity in old age may lead to muscle fragility.

Aim Olfactory impairment as a prodromal symptom, as well as sarcopenia, frailty and dependence as geriatric syndromes, is often associated with cognitive decline in older adults with progression of Alzheimer's disease. The present study aimed to evaluate the associations of olfactory and cognitive decline with these geriatric syndromes, and with structural changes of the brain in older adults.

In ecology and ethology, a technique called ‘bio-logging’ has been used to record the behaviour of wild animals by attaching a small logger, which includes a global positioning system (GPS) or acce...

An examination of taste and olfactometry in Yakumo-Cho inhabitants’ examination carried out in 2005, and the result reported in Academia Journal of Medicinal Plants 2018. This study examined olfactory function. A personal function test is calculated from the Yakumo study database, and the odor stick identification tests administered to healthy older adults. The participants were community dwellers who voluntarily participated in the Yakumo Study and had managed everyday life by themselves. The participants were engaged in a variety of jobs, not only white-collar but also agriculture, fishery,and forestry. Therefore, the city regarded as a representative of today's Japanese society. From the database, 298 participants (169 females and 129 males) were selected form data in August, 2019. The Odor Stick Identification Test (OSIT-J) was used to assess odor perception. The aromas used in the OSIT-J include curry, perfume, Japanese cypress, India ink, menthol, rose, wood, Smelly socks/ sweat, fried garlic, condensed milk, gas for cooking, and Japanese mandarin aromas.

Gustatory function is closely related to chewing and swallowing; however, there are currently no reports regarding gustatory function in persons with cerebral palsy (CP). The aim of this study was to compare the gustatory function between persons with CP and healthy controls. We investigated sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes using the whole-mouth method and measured the electrogustometric thresholds in the chorda tympani nerve area. Twelve participants with CP (6 women and 6 men) for whom gustatory testing was possible at our facilities, and 17 age-matched controls (9 women and 8 men) were included. The mean age ± standard deviation was 58.6 ± 8.1 years and 58.5 ± 8.7 years in subjects with CP and controls, respectively. Taste detection and identification were significantly worse in persons with CP compared with the controls. Taste identification was more impaired than taste detection. At the highest concentration, taste identification was impossible 11 times out of 48 (12 persons × 4 kinds of tastes) in persons with CP but such a deficit was not observed in 68 attempts (17 persons × 4 kinds of tastes) involving controls. The electrogustometric thresholds were not significantly different between the groups. Gustatory function associated with chewing and swallowing is worse in persons with CP compared to the controls.

Geobacillus kaustophilus is a thermophilic bacterium that grows at temperatures ranging between 42 and 74 °C. Here, we modified this organism to produce the thermolabile protein (PyrFA) or its thermostable variant (PyrFV) and analyzed the transcriptome and growth efficiency profiles of the resultant strains. In the producer of PyrFA, the transcriptome profile was changed to facilitate ATP synthesis from NADH without pooling reduced quinones. This change implies that PyrFA production at elevated temperatures places an energy burden on cells potentially to maintain protein homeostasis. This was consistent with the observation that the PyrFA producer grew slower than the PyrFV producer at > 45 °C and had a lower cellular fitness. Similar growth profiles were also observed in the PyrFA and PyrFV producers derived from another thermophile (Geobacillus thermodenitrificans) but not in those from Escherichia coli at 30 °C. Thus, we suggest that the production of thermolabile proteins impairs host survival at higher temperatures; therefore, thermophiles are under evolutionary selection for thermostable proteins regardless of whether their functions are associated with survival advantages. This hypothesis provides new insights into evolutionary protein selection in thermophiles and suggests an engineering approach to select thermostable protein variants generated via random gene mutagenesis.

Hearing loss is a risk factor for cognitive impairment, and the use of a hearing aid (HA) may prevent cognitive decline alongside hearing loss. We aimed to elucidate the prevalence of self-reported HA usage in Japanese community-dwelling elders with hearing loss, and the effect of hearing and HA on cognitive impairment.A total of 1193 participants, who had audiometric defined hearing loss and were aged 60 years or over, had their cumulative 3260 observations followed up for 10 years from a large cohort of a Japanese study. Association between hearing (pure-tone average threshold level at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz from the better hearing ear: PTABHE) and HA usage with cognitive impairment (total score of Mini-Mental State Estimation was under 27 or diagnosed as dementia) was analyzed using generalized estimating equations.The HA usage rate of the 1193 community-dwelling elders with hearing loss was 6% during the first involvement. The majority (59.2%) of HA users always used an HA. HA usage rate was 0.7% for the mild hearing loss group and 32.4% for the moderate or greater hearing loss group in the latest participating wave. PTABHE was significantly associated with cognitive impairment (odds ratio for every 10 dB 1.36; 95% CI 1.21-1.53, p0.0001) after adjusting for age, sex, education, depressed mood, smoking status, alcohol intake, income, activity, obesity, histories of hypertension, dyslipidemia, ischemic heart disease, diabetes, stroke, ear disease, and occupational noise exposure. PTABHE was also significantly associated with cognitive impairment in the mild hearing loss group (odds ratio for every 10 dB 1.34; 95% CI 1.05-1.72, p = 0.020) and moderate hearing loss group (odds ratio for every 10 dB 1.82; 95% CI 1.27-2.61, p = 0.001). HA use showed a significant suppressive effect on cognitive impairment in those with moderate hearing loss who always use an HA (odds ratio 0.54; 95% CI 0.30-1.00, p = 0.049).The prevalence of HA usage among Japanese community-dwelling elders with hearing loss is consistent, at around 10%. The hearing level remained a primary risk factor for cognitive impairment among elders with hearing loss after adjusting for several confounding factors. Regular HA use may have a protective effect on cognitive impairment in those with moderate hearing loss.

Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) is one of popular supervised learning techniques that map input data sequence into the continuous outputs with Gaussian probability distribution. Since GPR can quantify uncertainty in the predicted values unlike other machine learning techniques, it is becoming used to predict behaviors of mission critical applications such as satellites or gas turbines. However, its computation requirement is very high due to the extensive use of matrix operations. In this paper, we focus on the mean value prediction part as a major time-consuming one of Gaussian process regression and attempt to implement a custom hardware accelerator on FPGAs using high-level synthesis technique. Assuming the target dataset is onedimensional time series data, we design the accelerator specific to the single feature. Following the reference design using Python’s scikit-learn, we prepare a straightforward implementation in C++, and optimize it for an FPGA with high-level synthesis technique. From the results of implementation on the Ultra96 MPSoC board, we find that our accelerator can achieve a 250x speedup and 177 times less energy compared with the reference Python code for the CPU on the target board.

Unravelling the secrets of wild animals is one of the biggest challenges in ecology, with bio-logging (i.e., the use of animal-borne loggers or bio-loggers) playing a pivotal role in tackling this challenge. Bio-logging allows us to observe many aspects of animals’ lives, including their behaviours, physiology, social interactions, and external environment. However, bio-loggers have short runtimes when collecting data from resource-intensive (high-cost) sensors. This study proposes using AI on board video-loggers in order to use low-cost sensors (e.g., accelerometers) to automatically detect and record complex target behaviours that are of interest, reserving their devices’ limited resources for just those moments. We demonstrate our method on bio-loggers attached to seabirds including gulls and shearwaters, where it captured target videos with 15 times the precision of a baseline periodic-sampling method. Our work will provide motivation for more widespread adoption of AI in bio-loggers, helping us to shed light onto until now hidden aspects of animals’ lives., Joseph Korpela et al. demonstrate the use of machine-learning assisted bio-loggers on black-tailed gulls and streaked shearwaters. As video recording is only activated through variations in movement detected by low-cost accelerometers, this method represents improvements to runtime and precision over existing bio-logging technology.

Pelagic seabirds have evolved physiological and morphological characteristics that enable them to fly in an energy efficient manner over the oceans. Although there are some exceptions (e.g., Delord et al. 2020), most species come ashore only to breed or rest. However, recent tracking technologies have revealed some unexpected overland journeys. For example, brown pelicans Pelecanus occidentalis (Lamb et al. 2017), Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea (Redfern & Bevan 2020), and the focal species of this study, fledglings of streaked shearwaters Calonectris leucomelas (Yoda et al. 2017a; Fig. 1a), are known to migrate overland.

Understanding the relationships among aging, cognitive function, and olfaction may be useful for diagnosing olfactory decline in older adults. Olfactory function declines in the early stage of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Aging and cognitive impairment are associated with olfactory decline. Moreover, the assessment of hyposmia and anosmia is paramount to the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. We aimed to assess the relationships among aging, cognitive function, and olfaction in patients with olfactory impairment.This observational study included 141 patients with olfactory deterioration who presented with dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), age-related hyposmia, or postviral olfactory dysfunction (PVOD). The patients underwent TT olfactometry, a self-administered odor questionnaire (SAOQ), a visual analog scale (VAS), and a Mini-Mental State Examination.TT odor recognition thresholds decreased with aging (p0.01) and cognitive impairment (p 0.08). The average TT recognition thresholds were 5.1,4.6,4.2, and 3.7 in dementia, MCI, age-related hyposmia, and PVOD, respectively. Moreover, the average differences between the detection and recognition thresholds were 3.7, 2.8, 2.3, and 2.0 in dementia, MCI, age-related hyposmia, and PVOD, respectively. Hyposmia with dementia presented the highest recognition thresholds (p 0.05) and the largest differences between the TT detection and recognition thresholds, compared with age-related hyposmia and PVOD (p 0.05). Hyposmia with dementia had the highest SAOQ and VAS scores compared with the other groups (p 0.05).The possibility of dementia should be investigated in patients with hyposmia, including those with high TT recognition thresholds, a large difference between the TT detection and recognition thresholds, and high SAOQ and VAS scores.

The genus Geobacillus comprises gram-positive, moderate thermophilic, and aerobic or facultative anaerobic strains that can form endospores. The members of the genus are widely distributed in nature and have diverse habitats including cool environments. This is potentially due to not only their capacity for endospore formation but also their genetic plasticity that facilitates environmental adaptation, because Geobacillus spp. show remarkable genome diversification and have acquired beneficial properties that facilitate their exploitation of respective habitats. Such properties are often attractive for whole-cell applications performed at elevated temperatures. Consequently, extensive studies have been conducted to develop genetic tools for Geobacillus spp. and to generate their derivatives that are more practical for whole-cell applications. With the aim of highlighting the biotechnological platforms of Geobacillus spp., this chapter reviews genetic tools, notable properties, and biotechnological studies on Geobacillus spp. along with their history, habitats, and general characteristics. We also explore different perspectives from relevant studies.

Fucoidan is a hetero-sulfated polysaccharide found in brown algae and has received much attention as an ingredient in functional and health foods. The marine bacterial strain Luteolibacter algae H18 degrades fucoidan from Cladosiphon okamuranus. We purified the fucoidanase from a cell-free extract of L. algae H18, used it to decrease the molecular weight of deacetylated-fucoidan, determined the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the enzyme, and identified the gene involved in the degradation of fucoidan, fct114, in a draft genome sequence of strain H18. The gene product was heterologously produced in Escherichia coli and demonstrated to catalyze the degradation of deacetylated-fucoidan into lower molecular weight fragments. The mass of the gene product Fct114 is 112 kDa (1026 amino acid residues). The general properties of the enzyme were investigated by measuring the amount of reducing ends produced from deacetylated-fucoidan during the reaction. The enzyme was inactive toward fucoidans from other brown seaweed species or toward polysaccharides such as alginic acid, carrageenan, hyaluronic acid, and chondroitin sulfate. The amino acid sequence of Fct114 shared less than 25% identity and had no conserved motifs when compared with previously identified fucoidanases from other marine bacterial strains. These data suggest that Fct114 is a novel polysaccharide-degrading enzyme.

The genus Geobacillus comprises thermophilic bacilli capable of endospore formation. The members of this genus provide thermostable proteins and can be used in whole cell applications at elevated temperatures; therefore, these organisms are of biotechnological importance. While these applications have been described in previous reviews, the present paper highlights the environmental adaptations and genome diversifications of Geobacillus spp. and their applications in evolutionary-protein engineering. Despite their obligate thermophilic properties, Geobacillus spp. are widely distributed in nature. Because several isolates demonstrate remarkable properties for cell reproduction in their respective niches, they seem to exist not only as endospores but also as vegetative cells in diverse environments. This suggests their excellence in environmental adaptation via genome diversification; in fact, evidence suggests that Geobacillus spp. were derived from Bacillus spp. while diversifying their genomes via horizontal gene transfer. Moreover, when subjected to an environmental stressor, Geobacillus spp. diversify their genomes using inductive mutations and transposable elements to produce derivative cells that are adaptive to the stressor. Notably, inductive mutations in Geobacillus spp. occur more rapidly and frequently than the stress-induced mutagenesis observed in other microorganisms. Owing to this, Geobacillus spp. can efficiently generate mutant genes coding for thermostable enzyme variants from the thermolabile enzyme genes under appropriate selection pressures. This phenomenon provides a new approach to generate thermostable enzymes, termed as thermoadaptation-directed enzyme evolution, thereby expanding the biotechnological potentials of Geobacillus spp. In this review, we have discussed this approach using successful examples and major challenges yet to be addressed.

Indigo is an insoluble blue dye historically used for dyeing textiles. A traditional approach for indigo dyeing involves microbial reduction of polygonum indigo to solubilize it under alkaline conditions; however, the mechanism by which microorganisms reduce indigo remains poorly understood. Here, we aimed to identify an enzyme that catalyzes indigo reduction; for this purpose, from alkaline liquor that performed microbial reduction of polygonum indigo, we isolated indigo carmine-reducing microorganisms. All isolates were facultative anaerobic and alkali-tolerant Bacillus spp. An isolate termed AO1 was found to be an alkaliphile that preferentially grows at pH 9.0–11.0 and at 30–35 °C. We focused on flavin-dependent azoreductase as a possible enzyme for indigo carmine reduction and identified its gene (azoA) in Bacillus sp. AO1 using homology-based strategies. azoA was monocistronic but clustered with ABC transporter genes. Primary sequence identities were