Income inequality, mortality, and self rated health: meta-analysis of multilevel studies

Objective To provide quantitative evaluations on the association between income inequality and health

Swine influenza virus strains recognize sialylsugar chains containing the molecular species of sialic acid predominantly present in the swine tracheal epithelium

AbstractWe determined the ratio of N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) to N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) in swine respiratory epithelia by fluorometric high-performance liquid chromatography, and examined the binding specificity of swine influenza virus strains for gangliosides containing different molecular species of sialic acid (Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc), and for bovine erythrocyte sialoglycoprotein 2 (GP-2) containing Neu5Gc as its predominate sialic acid (96% of total sialic acids). The presence of Neu5Gc, which had not been detected in human tracheal epithelia, and Neu5Ac in swine tracheal epithelia was observed in a 1:1 ratio. The swine influenza virus H1 and H3 isolates tested, except for A/swine/Iowa/15/30 (H1N1), displayed a marked binding ability for sialylsugar chains containing Neu5Gc compared with that of the human influenza virus strains. These results suggest that swine influenza viruses recognize sialylsugar chains containing the molecular species of sialic acid present predominantly in the swine tracheal epithelium.© 1997 Federation of European Biochemical Societies

Strain-Rate Effects on Microstructural Deformation in Irradiated 316 SS

A series of studies have been performed to investigate the post-irradiation deformation and failure behavior of 12% cold-worked 316 stainless steel following irradiation to variety of doses and temperatures in the outer rows of the experimental breeder reactor II (EBR-II). In the current phase of these studies, three sets of samples with different radiation induced microstructures have been characterized with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) following tensile testing to failure at a ‘fast’ strain-rate (1 x 10-3 s-1) and a ‘slow’ strain-rate (1 x 10-7 s-1). The samples were irradiated to doses between 9 and 41 dpa at temperatures between 383 and 443 degrees C. Tensile tests were conducted at a temperature of 430 degrees C and only regions outside of the necked region were examined. Over the parameters tested, strain-rate had a negligible effect on the deformation microstructure. In addition, there was no clear evidence of localized deformation behavior and the deformation appeared relatively homogeneous, characterized by unfaulting and incorporation of faulted dislocation loops into the general dislocation network structure. The influence of the defect microstructures and strain-rate on deformation behavior is discussed

Isospin character of low-lying states in 56Fe.

Low-lying states in {sup 56}Fe, up to an excitation energy of about 4 MeV, have been investigated by means of inelastic proton and deuteron scattering experiments at {ital E}{sub {ital p}}=65 and 400 MeV and at {ital E}{sub {ital d}}=56 MeV, respectively. Measured cross sections and analyzing powers have been compared with coupled-channels calculations using collective form factors; calculations in both the Schr{umlt o}dinger and Dirac formalisms have been carried out for the proton data. For each probe, the matrix elements have been deduced for transitions from the ground state and from the 2{sub 1}{sup +} state to six quadrupole (2{sup +}) states to one octupole (3{sub 1}{sup {minus}}) and two hexadecapole (4{sub 1}{sup +} and 4{sub 2}{sup +}) states. The obtained matrix elements and the previous values from {gamma} decay or electron inelastic scattering have been used to evaluate the isospin character of the transitions. To discuss the quadrupole mixed-symmetry states in {sup 56}Fe, the deduced neutron ({ital M}{sub {ital n}}) and proton ({ital M}{sub {ital p}}) components of the matrix elements, or equivalently the isoscalar ({ital M}{sub {ital s}}) and isovector ({ital M}{sub {ital v}}) parts, have been compared with theoretical calculations based on the neutron-proton interacting bosonmore » model and on the shell model evaluated in a full {ital f}-{ital p} configuration space. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}« les

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

Prolonged mechanical ventilation in patients with severe COVID-19 is associated with serial modified-lung ultrasound scores: A single-centre cohort study

Lung ultrasound (LUS), a rapid, bedside, goal-oriented diagnostic test, can be quantitatively assessed, and the scores can be used to evaluate disease progression. However, little data exists on predicting prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) and successful extubation using serial LUS scores. We examined the relationship of PMV with successful extubation in patients with severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by using two types of serial LUS scores. One LUS score evaluated both the pleura and lung fields, while the other assessed each separately (modified-LUS score). Both LUS scores were determined for 20 consecutive patients with severe COVID-19 at three timepoints: admission (day-1), after 48 h (day-3), and on the seventh follow-up day (day-7). We compared LUS scores with the radiographic assessment of the lung oedema (RALE) scores and laboratory test results, at the three timepoints. The PMV and successful extubation groups showed no significant differences in mortality, but significant differences occurred on day-3 and day-7 both LUS scores, day-7 RALE score, and day-7 PaO2/FiO2 ratio, in the PMV group (p<0.05); and day-3 and day-7 modified-LUS scores, day-7 C-reactive protein levels, and day-7 PaO2/FiO2 ratio, in the successful extubation group (p<0.05). The area under the curves (AUC) of LUS scores on day-3 and day-7, modified-LUS scores on day-3 and day-7,RALE score on day-7, and PaO2/FiO2 ratio on day-7 in the PMV group were 0.98, 0.85, 0.88, 0.98, 0.77, and 0.80, respectively. The AUC of modified-LUS scores on day-3 and day-7, C-reactive protein levels on day-7, and PaO2/FiO2 ratio on day-7 in the successful extubation group were 0.79, 0.90, 0.82, and 0.79, respectively. The modified-LUS score on day 7 was significantly higher than that on day 1 in PMV group (p<0.05). While the LUS score did not exhibit significant differences. The serial modified-LUS score of patients with severe COVID-19 could predict PMV

Do social comparisons explain the association between income inequality and health?: Relative deprivation and perceived health among male and female Japanese individuals

Relative deprivation has been hypothesized as one of the pathways accounting for the link between income inequality and health. We tested this hypothesis in a large national sample of men and women in Japan. Our survey included a probability sample of 22,871 men and 24,243 women aged 25-64, from whom information was gathered on demographic variables, household income, occupation or employment status, and self-rated health. Our measure of relative deprivation was the Yitzhaki Index, which calculates the deprivation suffered by each individual as a function of the aggregate income shortfall for each person relative to everyone else with higher incomes in that person's reference group. We modeled several alternative reference groups, including others with the same occupation, others of the same age group, and others living in the same geographic area (prefecture), as well as combinations of these. Generalized estimating equations demonstrated that higher relative deprivation was associated with worse self-rated health. Even after controlling for absolute income as well as other sociodemographic factors, the odds ratio and its 95% confidence intervals (CI) for poor health ranged from 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02-1.16) to 1.18 (95% CI: 1.11-1.26) for men and from 1.10 (95% CI: 1.04-1.16) to 1.16 (95% CI: 1.09-1.23) for women per 1 million increase in the Yitzhaki Index. As such, relative income deprivation is associated with poor self-rated health independently of absolute income, and relative deprivation may be a mechanism underlying the link between income inequality and population health.Japan Psychosocial deprivation Relative deprivation Income inequality Pathways