Faecal examinations for helminth eggs were performed on 1869 people from two riverside localities, Vientiane Municipality and Saravane Province, along the Mekong River, Laos. To obtain adult flukes, 42 people positive for small trematode eggs (Opisthorchis viverrini, heterophyid, or lecithodendriid eggs) were treated with a 20–30 mg kg−1 single dose of praziquantel and purged. Diarrhoeic stools were then collected from 36 people (18 in each area) and searched for helminth parasites using stereomicroscopes. Faecal examinations revealed positive rates for small trematode eggs of 53.3% and 70.8% (average 65.2%) in Vientiane and Saravane Province, respectively. Infections with O. viverrini and six species of intestinal flukes were found, namely, Haplorchis taichui, H. pumilio, H. yokogawai, Centrocestus caninus, Prosthodendrium molenkampi, and Phaneropsolus bonnei. The total number of flukes collected and the proportion of fluke species recovered were markedly different in the two localities; in Vientiane, 1041 O. viverrini (57.8 per person) and 615 others (34.2 per person), whereas in Saravane, 395 O. viverrini (21.9 per person) and 155207 others (8622.6 per person). Five people from Saravane harboured no O. viverrini but numerous heterophyid and/or lecithodendriid flukes. The results indicate that O. viverrini and several species of heterophyid and lecithodendriid flukes are endemic in these two riverside localities, and suggest that the intensity of infection and the relative proportion of fluke species vary by locality along the Mekong River basin.

We present recent observation results of Sgr A* at millimeter obtained with VLBI arrays in Korea and Japan.

7 mm monitoring of Sgr A* is part of our AGN large project. The results at 7 epochs during 2013-2014, including high resolution maps, flux density and two-dimensional size measurements are presented. The source shows no significant variation in flux and structure related to the G2 encounter in 2014. According to recent MHD simulations by kawashima et al., flux and magnetic field energy can be expected to increase several years after the encounter; We will keep our monitoring in order to test this prediction.

Astrometric observations of Sgr A* were performed in 2015 at 7 and 3.5 millimeter simultaneously. Source-frequency phase referencing was applied and a combined ”core-shift” of Sgr A* and a nearby calibrator was measured. Future observations and analysis are necessary to determine the core-shift in each source.

Glutathione peroxidase (GPx; EC 1.11.1.9) is an important antioxidant enzyme that catalyses the reduction of organic and inorganic hydroperoxides to water in oxygen-consuming organisms, using glutathione as an electron donor. Here, we report the characterization of a GPx of Cryptosporidium parvum (CpGPx). CpGPx contained a standard UGU codon for cysteine instead of a UGA opal codon for seleno-cysteine (SeCys) at the active site, and no SeCys insertion sequence (SECIS) motif was identified within the 3′-untranslated region (UTR) of CpGPx, which suggested its selenium-independent nature. In silico and biochemical analyses indicated that CpGPx is a cytosolic protein with a monomeric structure. Recombinant CpGPx was active over a wide pH range and was stable under physiological conditions. It showed a substrate preference against organic hydroperoxides, such as cumene hydroperoxide and t-butyl hydroperoxide, but it also showed activity against inorganic hydroperoxide, hydrogen peroxide. Recombinant CpGPx was not inhibited by potassium cyanide or by sodium azide. The enzyme effectively protected DNA and protein from oxidative damage induced by hydrogen peroxide, and was functionally expressed in various developmental stages of C. parvum. These results collectively suggest the essential role of CpGPx for the parasite's antioxidant defence system.

We searched the time lag between the intra-day variables (IDVs) of Sagittarius A* at 22, 43, and 86 GHz bands using the Korean VLBI Network (KVN). The time lags between the IDV flare peaks at 22 and 43 GHz are reported, and they suggest that the flare emissions come from adiabatically expanding plasma blobs, ejected close to the Galactic center black hole. We searched the time lags between light curves at 90 and 102 GHz using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array, but could not find significant time lags. In order to detect the diversity of the time lags of Sgr A* flares, we performed observations of Sgr A* in the 22, 43, and 86 GHz bands using the KVN in the winter of 2013. Because the receiver system of KVN can observe Sgr A* in these three bands simultaneously, the KVN is very useful to detect the time lags of Sgr A* flares.

Cysteine proteases of pathogenic protozoan parasites play pivotal roles in the life cycle of parasites, but strict regulation of their activities is also essential for maintenance of parasite physiology and interaction with hosts. In this study, we identified and characterized cryptostatin, a novel inhibitor of cysteine protease (ICP) of Cryptosporidium parvum. Cryptostatin showed low sequence identity to other chagasin-family ICPs, but 3 motifs (NPTTG, GXGG, and RPW/F motifs), which are evolutionarily conserved in chagasin-family ICPs, were found in the sequence. The overall structure of cryptostatin consisted of 8 β-strands that progressed in parallel and closely resembled the immunoglobulin fold. Recombinant cryptostatin inhibited various cysteine proteases, including papain, human cathepsin B, human cathepsin L, and cryptopain-1, with Ki's in the picomolar range. Cryptostatin was active over a wide pH range and was highly stable under physiological conditions. The protein was thermostable and retained its inhibitory activity even after incubation at 95°C. Cryptostatin formed tight complexes with cysteine proteases, so the complexes remained intact in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and β-mercaptoethanol, but they were disassembled by boiling. An immunogold electron microscopy analysis demonstrated diffused localization of cryptostatin within oocystes and meronts, but not within trophozoites, which suggests a possible role for cryptostatin in host cell invasion by C. parvum.

We identified 2 novel genes encoding different 2-Cys peroxiredoxins (PRxs), designated CsPRx2 and CsPRx3, in Clonorchis sinensis, which invades the human hepatobiliary tracts. The CsPRx2 gene expression was temporally increased along with the parasite's development and its protein product was detected in almost all parts of adult worms including subtegument, as well as excretory-secretory products. Conversely, CsPRx3 expression was temporally maintained at a basal level and largely restricted within interior parts of various tissues/organs. The recombinant forms of CsPRx proteins exhibited reducing activity against various hydroperoxides in the presence of either thioredoxin or glutathione (GSH) as a reducing equivalent, although they preferred H2O2 and GSH as a catalytic substrate and electron donor, respectively. A steady-state kinetic study demonstrated that the CsPRx proteins followed a saturable, Michaelis-Menten-type equation with the catalytic efficiencies (kcat/Km) ranging from 103 to 104 M−1 s−1, somewhat lower than those for other PRxs studied (104–105 M−1 s−1). The expression patterns and histological distributions specific to CsPRx2 and CsPRx3 might suggest different physiological functions of the antioxidant enzymes in protecting the worms against oxidative damage.

Leucine aminopeptidases (LAPs) are a group of metalloexopeptidases that catalyse the sequential removal of amino acids from the N-termini of polypeptides or proteins. They play an important role in regulating the balance between catabolism and anabolism in living cells. LAPs of apicomplexa parasitic protozoa have been intensively investigated due to their crucial roles in parasite biology as well as their potentials as drug targets. In this study, we identified an M17 leucine aminopeptidase of Cryptosporidium parvum (CpLAP) and characterized the biochemical properties of the recombinant protein. Multiple sequence alignment of the deduced amino acid sequence of CpLAP with those of other organisms revealed that typical amino acid residues essential for metal binding and active-site formation in M17 LAPs were well conserved in CpLAP. Recombinant CpLAP shared similar biochemical properties such as optimal pH, stability at neutral pHs, and metal-binding characteristics with other characterized LAPs. The enzyme showed a marked preference for Leu and its activity was effectively inhibited by bestatin. These results collectively suggest that CpLAP is a typical member of the M17 LAP family and may play an important role in free amino acid regulation in the parasite.

Cryptosporidium parvum is an intracellular protozoan parasite that causes cryptosporidiosis in mammals including humans. In the current study, the gene encoding the cysteine protease of C. parvum (cryptopain-1) was identified and the biochemical properties of the recombinant enzyme were characterized. Cryptopain-1 shared common structural properties with cathepsin L-like papain family enzymes, but lacked a typical signal peptide sequence and contained a possible transmembrane domain near the amino terminus and a unique insert in the front of the mature domain. The recombinant cryptopain-1 expressed in Escherichia coli and refolded to the active form showed typical biochemical properties of cathepsin L-like enzymes. The folding determinant of cryptopain-1 was characterized through multiple constructs with or without different lengths of the pro-domain of the enzyme expressed in E. coli and assessment of their refolding abilities. All constructs, except one that did not contain the full-length mature domain, successfully refolded into the active enzymes, suggesting that cryptopain-1 did not require the pro-domain for folding. Western blot analysis showed that cryptopain-1 was expressed in the sporozoites and the enzyme preferentially degraded proteins, including collagen and fibronectin, but not globular proteins. This suggested a probable role for cryptopain-1 in host cell invasion and/or egression by the parasite.

A study of thermal instability for the two-dimensional stagnation flow for Prandtl numbers ranging from 0.7 to infinity is presented. The analysis represents an exact solution since neither the boundary-layer approximation nor the parallel-flow assumption was invoked. Of particular interest is that the critical Rayleigh number and the critical wavenumber, when defined on the basis of the thermal boundary-layer lengthscale, are found to be relatively insensitive to the Prandtl number for the range of Prandtl numbers studied.

Acephalic cysticercus (Ac), a rarely developed multilobulated and nonencysted form of larval Taenia, causes hydrocephalus or adhesive arachnoiditis in the ventricles and subarachnoidal space that often lead to fatal outcome in affected patients. Ac has been proposed to originate from T. solium on the basis of morphological features, while no molecular data supporting the presumption have been available. In the present study, we investigated the immunological properties as well as molecular characteristics of Ac that was obtained surgically from 6 patients. Immunoblotting of the cyst fluid from Ac samples demonstrated the constitutive expression of a T. solium metacestode (TsM) 10 kDa protein. Specific antibodies against the truncated 10 kDa protein, which appears to be species specific for TsM cysticercosis, were detected in both serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples of Ac patients. Nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) genes of Ac were almost identical to those of T. solium but differed substantially from those of the other Taenia species. In phylogenetic analysis, Ac clustered with T. solium in a well-supported clade. Our results strongly suggest that Ac may have originated from T. solium.

To adapt to different environmental conditions between poikilothermic and homeothermic hosts, the plerocercoid of Spirometra erinacei (sparganum) might express a variety of biologically active molecules. We have identified a 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein of the sparganum (SpGrp78) by differential display of mRNA, employing RNAs each from sparganum adjusted at 9 °C and 37 °C. A full-length cDNA of 2148 bp encodes for a protein of 651 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 71 610 Da and shares molecular characteristics with heat-shock protein 70, including a putative ATP binding site, signal peptide cleavage site and endoplasmic reticulum retention signal. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that SpGrp78 was mostly related to those of Echinococcus multilocularis and E. granulosus. Expression of SpGrp78 mRNA increased approximately 7-fold by inhibition of glycosylation by tunicamycin, 2-fold by temperature-shift from 9 °C to 37 °C and slightly by pH-shift to 4·0 or 5·5. These results suggested that induction of SpGrp78 mRNA is related to the functional role of SpGrp78 as a molecular chaperone when the parasite adapts to a new host environment.

The principal interests in this work are energetic-beam control of carbon-film properties and the roles of doping and surface morphology in field emission. Carbon films with variable sp3-bonding fraction were deposited on n-type Si substrates by ArF (193 nm) pulsed-laser ablation (PLA) of a pyrolytic graphite target, and by direct metal ion beam deposition (DMIBD) using a primary Cs+ beam to generate the secondary C- deposition beam. The PLA films are undoped while the DMIBD films are doped with Cs. The kinetic energy (KE) of the incident C atoms/ions was controlled and varied over the range from ∼25 eV to ∼175 eV. Earlier studies have shown that C films' sp3-bonding fraction and diamond-like properties can be maximized by using KE values near 90 eV. The films' surface morphology, sp3–bonding fraction, and Cs-content were determined as a function of KE using atomic force microscopy, TEM/EELS, Rutherford backscattering and nuclear reaction measurements, respectively. Field emission (FE) from these very smooth undoped and Cs-containing films is compared with the FE from two types of deliberately nanostructured carbon films, namely hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HF-CVD) carbon and carbon nanotubes grown by plasma-enhanced CVD. Electron field emission (FE) characteristics were measured using ∼25-μm, ∼5-μm and ∼1-μm diameter probes that were scanned with ∼75 nm resolution in the x-, y-, and z-directions in a vacuum chamber (∼5 × 10-7 torr base pressure) equipped with a video camera for viewing. The hydrogen-free and very smooth a-D or a-C films (with high or low sp3 content, and with or without ∼1% Cs doping) produced by PLD and DMIBD are not good field emitters. Conditioning accompanied by arcing was required to obtain emission, so that their subsequent FE is characteristic of the arc-produced damage site. However, deliberate surface texturing can eliminate the need for conditioning, apparently by geometrical enhancement of the local electric field. But the most promising approach for producing macroscopically flat FE cathodes is to use materials that are highly nanostructured, either by the deposition process (e.g. HF-CVD carbon) or intrinsically (e.g. carbon nanotubes). HF-CVD films were found to combine a number of desirable properties for FE displays and vacuum microelectronics, including the absence of conditioning, low turn-on fields, high emission site density, and apparent stability and durability during limited long-term testing. Preliminary FE measurements revealed that vertically aligned carbon nanotubes are equally promising.

Molecular second-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities (β) based on EFISH measurements in dimethylsulfoxide of selected donor-acceptor substituted organic compounds are reported. Enhanced values were noted for compounds containing highly ionizable substituents. Compounds possessing the highest susceptibilities were dissolved in polymer films and electric-field poled, leading to corresponding enhancements in the nonlinear optical coefficients. The data are consistent with molecular and thermodynamic models.