On-line microdevice for stress proteomics

The handing of the cells or tissues is essential for proteomics research or drug screening, where labor is not avoidable. The steps of cell wash, protein extraction, protein denaturing are complicated procedures in conventional method using centrifugation and pipetting in the laboratory. This is the bottle-neck for proteome research. To solve these problems, we propose to utilize the nanotechnology, which will improve the proteomics methodology. Utilizing the nanotechnology, we developed a novel microseparation system, where centrifugation and pipetting are needless. This system has a nanostructured microdevice, by which the cell handling, protein extraction, and antibody assay can be performed. Since cell transfer is needless, all cells are corrected without any loss during the cell-pretreatment procedures, which allowed high reproducibility and enabled the detection of low amount of protein expression. Utilizing the microdevice, we analyzed the stress induced proteins. We further succeeded the screening of food that was useful for immunity and found that an extraction from seaweed promoted the apoptosis of T-lymphoblastic cells. Here, we present an on-line microdevice for stress proteomics

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Characteristics of the nurse manager's recognition behavior and its relation to sense of coherence of staff nurses in Japan

The recognition behaviors strongly influence the job satisfaction of staff nurses and an extremely important factor for the prevention of burnout and the promotion of retention. Additionally, among internal factors that may affect worker's mental health, a sense of coherence (SOC) is an important concept from the view of the salutogenic theory and stress recognition style. Individual's SOC increases in relation to recognition behavior. However, in Japan, few studies have examined the effect of recognition behaviors on the SOC of staff nurses. The purpose of this study was to investigate how staff nurses perceive recognition behaviors of the nurse manager and to determine the relationship between recognition behaviors and the staff nurses’ SOC. This quantitative, cross-sectional study involved 10 hospitals in Japan. A total of 1425 nurses completed the questionnaire. As a result, the perceptions of nurse manager's recognition behaviors by staff nurses were evaluated by presentation and report, individual value and the transfer of responsibility, and professional development. The median score of staff nurse SOC-13 was 50 (IQR; 45–55). Significant differences in SOC scores were found in marital status, age, years of experience, and mental and physical health condition. In conclusion, recognition behaviors by the nurse manager can improve staff nurse's SOC and effectively support the mental health of the staff nurse

Relationship between the views of 'Freeter' and identity status among university students

フリーターへの親和的態度を心理的側面から調査し,大学生の職業意識や価値観に関するメカニズムを検討するため,フリーターへの肯定的態度とアイデンティティ・ステイタスとの関連を調査した。その結果,フリーターの「目標に辿り着くための試行錯誤の時期」という側面に対して,アイデンティティ達成型は早期完了型よりも肯定的態度が強かった。過去に危機を体験した学生は,危機を経験していない学生よりも,人生における迷いや立ち止まることに対して肯定的な意味づけをしているために,フリーターの過渡期的な側面に積極的な理解を示したと考えられた。今後の課題として「フリーターになった理由」を統制して検討することが挙げられた

How Do Patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Family Members Experience Memory Impairments?

How patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their family members experience the memory impairment and the disease was investigated. Patients with very mild to moderate AD (n=10) and their family members (n=10) participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted separately with the patients and the family members. Nearly all the patients with AD demonstrated some awareness of memory difficulties, but there were individual variations in the level of suffering. This was related to the role the patients played in their daily life, how they comprehended the memory impairment, and their coping style. Moreover, family members' awareness of patients' memory impairments and suffering differed, depending on the relationship with the patient. These results suggest that not only the severity of AD, but also psychosocial factors are related to the experience of AD by patients and their families

The Relations among Evaluation of Supportive Functions of Community-based Self-help Groups for Cancer Survivors, Benefit Finding and Mental Health

The relations among evaluation of supportive functions (ESF) of communitybased self-help groups (SHGs) for cancer survivors, benefit finding (BF), and mental health were investigated. Members of SHGs for cancer survivors (n=314) completed a questionnaire inquiring their background. They also responded to several scales, including the ESF Scale, BF Scale-Revised, and the 28 item Japanese version of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28). Results indicated that the ESF of SHGs had a direct buffering effect on BF domains. Moreover, ESF of SHGs and BF were significantly mediated by age, time since diagnosis, participation status, and the role in SHGs. Results also indicated a significant relationship between most BF domains and "social activity obstacles" subscale of the GHQ28. These findings suggested that participation in self-help groups was helpful for increasing BF and BF played a role in recovering the mental health of cancer survivors

Collaboration between Clinical Psychologists and Community-based Self-help Groups for Cancer Survivors

Methods for promoting collaboration between clinical psychologists (CPs) and community-based self-help groups (SHGs) for cancer survivors were investigated from the perspective of community psychology. A semi-structured interview was administered to CPs (N = 5) that were collaborating with the SHGs: CP A was a leader of a SHG for cancer survivors, B was a volunteer of SHGs for children with cancer and their parents, C was a staff consultant of SHGs for parents of children having cancer in her hospital, D was an experienced psychotherapist, counseling terminally ill members of SHGs that had survived various types of cancers and D was a researcher developing a scale to evaluate supportive functions of SHGs for cancer survivors. The results suggested that the main collaborative roles of CPs' were to assess and coordinate supportive functions of SHGs. The significance of the role of CP's as volunteers was discussed

Can attitudes of students with little interest in dementia be changed by university classes?

We offer a class at university that teaches students understanding and support for people with dementia. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the class in promoting concern among students for people with dementia. We analyzed pre-test and post-test responses for 35 student subjects and found that, regardless of initial degree of interest in dementia, the students taking the class became more knowledgeable of dementia, and their attitudes toward people with dementia markedly improved. The results suggest that general college or university education classes could contribute to better regional support systems for people with dementia

Perceptions of university faculty regarding school-nonattendance and supports for non-attendant students

本研究では不登校学生を理解するための大学教員の観点を明らかにした上で不登校学生をタイプ分けし,各タイプに対する教員の支援方法について検討することを目的とした。79名の大学教員から回答を得,そのうちの51名の教員に不登校学生の担当経験があった。調査の結果,教員は「無気力」,「適性の問題」,「心理的問題」,「対人スキルの問題」という4つの観点から不登校学生を理解していた。また,教員から見た不登校学生は「アパシー群」と「心理的問題群」,「不明群」にタイプ分けされ,各群に対する教員の支援方法は異なっていた。このことから,教員が不登校学生を支援する際には,不登校学生の特徴を教員の観点から把握し,その特徴に応じた支援を行っていることが示唆された