ニュウインチュウ ノ ガクドウ ヲ モツ ハハオヤ ヘ ノ ケア ニ カンスル ケントウ ハハオヤ ノ キタイ ト カンゴシ ノ ニンシキ ノ サイ

原

Altered functional organization within the insular cortex in adult males with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: evidence from connectivity-based parcellation

Determination of the optimal number of clusters based on VI and MI in intracalcarine cortex. The intracalcarine cortex was selected as a control region. The VI and MI values are shown for every clustering solution for k values ranging from 2 to 10. Arrows indicate either local minima of VI or local maxima of MI. Dashed lines denote the optimal number of solutions as determined using both VI and MI. The error bars denote standard errors of the mean for 100 repetitions of the split-half procedure (see the “Estimation of the optimal number of clusters” section). “n.s.” indicates no statistically significant difference between points. (PDF 334 kb

Study for self-efficacy of intensive care unit nursing

ICU看護婦の看護ケアの自信（以下ICU看護ケアの自己効力とする）の程度を知り，ICU看護ケアの自己効力に影響する要因を明らかにすると同時に，ICU経験3年以上の15名の看護婦についてはICU看護ケアの自己効力とリーダーとしての自信（以後リーダーシップの自己効力とする）との関係を明らかにすることを目的する。ICU看護ケアの自己効力とリーダーシップの自己効力について尺度を作成し，ICU勤務の看護婦48名を対象として調査を行った。有効回答数は45で，平均年齢は27.8±5.0歳であった。その結果，以下の3点が明らかとなった。1．年齢，看護婦経験年数，ICUでの経験年数が増すごとにICU看護ケアの自己効力も上昇していた（年齢：r(s)＝0.35，pく0.05，看護婦経験年数：r(s)＝0.35，pく0.05，ICUでの経験年数：r(s)＝0.56，P＜0.01）。2．配属の希望の有無，職場に満足しているか否か，看護ケアが患者の回復に影響すると考えているか否かについては，ICU看護ケアの自己効力への影響を認めなかった。3．リーダー役割をとっている看護婦のICU看護ケアの自己効力とリーダーシップの自己効力の間には，有意な相関はみられなかった。The purposes of this study were; (1) to examine the self-efficacy of ICU nursing, and (2) to clear the factors related to the self-efficacy of ICU nursing, (3) to investigate between the self-efficacy of ICU nursing and the self-efficacy of leadership for 15 nurses who had experience more than 3 years in the ICU section. Subjects were 45 ICU working nurses whose average age was 27.8±5.0. Using originally designed scales of self-efficacy of ICU nursing and the self-efficacy of leadership, we found following results; (1) the self-efficacy of ICU nursing was significantly related to age (r(s)=0.35, p<0.05), duration of experience as a nurse (r(s)=0.35, p<0.05) and that of ICU (r(s)=0.56, p<0.01). (2) there were no significant relation between the self-efficacy of ICU nursing and desire to be ICU nurse, job satisfaction and belief in positive effect of her nursing care for patient's recovery. (3) the self-efficacy of ICU nursing didn't have significant relationship to the self-efficacy of leadership

Phylogenetic analysis of the long terminal repeat of feline immunodeficiency viruses from Japan, Argentina and Australia

The nucleotide sequences of the long terminal repeat of five Japanese, five Argentine and three Australian isolates of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) were determined and compared with those of isolates previously described. The results revealed that the Japanese isolates were found to cluster with nucleotide sequence similarity of 95.6%–99.4%. The Australian isolates also clustered with nucleotide sequence similarity of 97.2%–99.4%. The Argentine isolates formed two groups; the LP9 isolate is closely related to the Japanese isolates, whereas the LP1, LP3, LP20 and LP24 isolates are distant from both the Japanese and Australian isolates. From these results, FIV can be divided into three groups, namely: (I) the Californian, Australian and British isolates; (II) the Japanese isolates and one Argentine LP9 isolate; (III) the other Argentine isolates.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Nephronectin plays critical roles in Sox2 expression and proliferation in dental epithelial stem cells via EGF-like repeat domains

Tooth development is initiated by epithelial-mesenchymal interactions via basement membrane (BM) and growth factors. In the present study, we found that nephronectin (Npnt), a component of the BM, is highly expressed in the developing tooth. Npnt localizes in the BM on the buccal side of the tooth germ and shows an expression pattern opposite that of the dental epithelial stem cell marker Sox2. To identify the roles of Npnt during tooth development, we performed knockdown and overexpression experiments using ex vivo organ and dental epithelial cell cultures. Our findings showed that loss of Npnt induced ectopic Sox2-positive cells and reduced tooth germ size. Over expression of Npnt showed increased proliferation, whereas the number of Sox2-positive cells was decreased in dental epithelial cells. Npnt contains 5 EGF-like repeat domains, as well as an RGD sequence and MAM domain. We found that the EGF-like repeats are critical for Sox2 expression and cell proliferation. Furthermore, Npnt activated the EGF receptor (EGFR) via the EGF-like repeat domains and induced the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Our results indicate that Npnt plays a critical scaffold role in dental epithelial stem cell differentiation and proliferation, and regulates Sox2 expression during tooth development

Perioperative Elevation in Cell-Free DNA Levels in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: Possible Contribution of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps to Perioperative Renal Dysfunction

Background. This study aimed to determine the perioperative change in serum double-strand DNA (dsDNA) as a marker potentially reflecting neutrophil extracellular trap concentration in samples from patients undergoing cardiac surgery and to analyze a relationship between serum dsDNA concentrations and perioperative renal dysfunction. Methods. Serum dsDNA concentrations in samples that were collected during a previously conducted, prospective, multicenter, observational study were measured. Eighty patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery were studied. Serum samples were collected at baseline, immediately after surgery, and the day after surgery (POD-1). Results. Serum dsDNA concentration was significantly increased from baseline (median, 398 ng/mL [interquartile range, 372–475 ng/mL]) to immediately after surgery (median, 540 ng/mL [437–682 ng/mL], p<0.001), and they were reduced by POD-1 (median, 323 ng/mL [256–436 ng/mL]). The difference in serum creatinine concentration between baseline and POD-1 was correlated with dsDNA concentration on POD-1 (rs=0.61, p<0.001). Conclusions. In patients undergoing cardiac surgery, serum dsDNA concentration is elevated postoperatively. Prolonged elevation in dsDNA concentration is correlated with perioperative renal dysfunction. Further large-scale studies are needed to determine the relationship between serum concentration of circulating dsDNA and perioperative renal dysfunction

Characterization of sulfur-compound metabolism underlying wax-ester fermentation in Euglena gracilis

Euglena gracilis is a microalga, which has been used as a model organism for decades. Recent technological advances have enabled mass cultivation of this species for industrial applications such as feedstock in nutritional foods and cosmetics. E. gracilis degrades its storage polysaccharide (paramylon) under hypoxic conditions for energy acquisition by an oxygen-independent process and accumulates high amount of wax-ester as a by-product. Using this sequence of reactions referred to as wax-ester fermentation, E. gracilis is studied for its application in biofuel production. Although the wax-ester production pathway is well characterized, little is known regarding the biochemical reactions underlying the main metabolic route, especially, the existence of an unknown sulfur-compound metabolism implied by the nasty odor generation accompanying the wax-ester fermentation. In this study, we show sulfur-metabolomics of E. gracilis in aerobic and hypoxic conditions, to reveal the biochemical reactions that occur during wax-ester synthesis. Our results helped us in identifying hydrogen sulfide (H2S) as the nasty odor-producing component in wax-ester fermentation. In addition, the results indicate that glutathione and protein degrades during hypoxia, whereas cysteine, methionine, and their metabolites increase in the cells. This indicates that this shift of abundance in sulfur compounds is the cause of H2S synthesis

CFHandVIPR2as susceptibility loci in choroidal thickness and pachychoroid disease central serous chorioretinopathy

中心性漿液性網脈絡膜症に関わる遺伝子変異を発見 --日本人に多い特殊なタイプの加齢黄斑変性の原因も解明--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2018-05-31.Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) is a common disease affecting younger people and may lead to vision loss. CSC shares phenotypic overlap with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). As recent studies have revealed a characteristic increase of choroidal thickness in CSC, we conducted a genome-wide association study on choroidal thickness in 3, 418 individuals followed by TaqMan assays in 2, 692 subjects, and we identified two susceptibility loci: CFH rs800292, an established AMD susceptibility polymorphism, and VIPR2 rs3793217 (P = 2.05 × 10−10 and 6.75 × 10−8, respectively). Case–control studies using patients with CSC confirmed associations between both polymorphisms and CSC (P = 5.27 × 10−5 and 5.14 × 10−5, respectively). The CFH rs800292 G allele is reportedly a risk allele for AMD, whereas the A allele conferred risk for thicker choroid and CSC development. This study not only shows that susceptibility genes for CSC could be discovered using choroidal thickness as a defining variable but also, deepens the understanding of differences between CSC and AMD pathophysiology